fresh beginnings

What a wonderful word ‘fresh’ is! It’s the very opposite of stale – new, refreshed, different, bright, clear and invigorating. Many of us use this time of year to make a new start in some way, whether that’s taking up a new art form, resolving to eat more healthily, changing jobs, or some other change we feel the need to make. But I’ve never felt that January 1st is the right time for this; I still feel mired in winter, waiting and hibernating. The Chinese seem to have timed it much better, with the Chinese New Year happening once we’re well into February. By February, small buds are beginning to appear, the tender, vulnerable tips of bulbs are showing (sometimes through the snow), and the light is lasting noticeably longer each day. The tiny beginnings of spring are showing up.

For me, this is the real fresh start to the year, when winter is reaching its end, and all the possibilities of spring and summer are lined up like a feast of delicious foods. This year, I have a real fresh start after a long spell of feeling stuck and stale. After several months of unemployment and, before that, several years with the cloud of threatened redundancy hanging over him, my husband has a new job. He’ll start in February and it means a move to a new place several hundred miles away from where we currently live. It’s both exciting and daunting. Daunting, because I’m leaving behind good and valued friends, a place I love, and a whole network of support in the form of good hairdressers, car mechanics, therapists, specialist shops, and all those things that make life comfortable and easy. But it’s mostly exciting, because I’ll have a whole new area to explore (including three new cities within easy reach), new places to photograph and, hopefully, new and equally good friends to make. It also means a move away from a house with which I’ve never been terribly happy, and the promise of a new home that’s filled with the light and space I’ve been craving. I’m very happy about the coming of fresh things this year.

Those little water droplets in heavenly~flower’s photo look like jewels - bright and fresh and sparkling with promise. And tulips are my favourite spring flower, especially when they’ve just been showered by fresh spring rain.

gilly of the camera points both ways

bejewelled by heavenly~flower