Is It Spring Yet?

Spring has well and truly sprung here in my part of the world

I thought that maybe it was a bit of a false spring for a few days

even though I saw the first blooms of jasmine

and smelt its wonderful fragrance

every now and again you get a rogue bloom

so I wasn't quite ready to believe it may be here

Even when I was woken up by a veritable horde of rainbow lorikeets

swarming the tree outside our bedroom window and devouring its seed pods

while screeching to each other at the top of their birdy lungs

I still wasn't quite ready to declare winter done for

and despite having our first mosquito put in an appearance the other night

which was duly dispatched with glee and karate type noises

plus I left that carcass on the wall as a warning to other little bitey buggers

they enter at their own risk people

even the appearance of that annoying little blighter couldn't make me declare it

the bougainvillea in the neighbor's yard was showing a few blooms

and I admit that I was starting to be hopeful

the light is gorgeous, the skies are clear blue, and the breeze has that first hint of warmth

and my hopes were getting higher and higher

but what if it is really one of those false Springs

that send you shivering and diving back into sweaters unexpectedly

might be best to be a touch cautious before I start washing sweaters and blankets

The paper on these watercolours dried fabulously quickly as I finally finished them off

which should be an indicator

especially as these are quite large by my standards

and I used 600gr paper to avoid the whole stretching paper palaver

which always sees me somehow ending up covered in water

with tape from head to tail and still having dry patches in the paper

but it wasn't until this morning that I was ready to finally say winter is done for

And that is because I woke up to that indicator to end all indicators

a dog sneeze in the face... yep the mutt gets hayfever

only in spring and then he becomes a roving mass full of snot, sneezes

and epic snoring that has to be heard to be believed

he opens the day with a sneeze, proceeds to sneeze all day long

and most disgusting is that he likes to sneeze on something

your foot, your leg, or your cup of tea if you let him get too close

then does the best impression of a drunk trucker that a small fluff ball can achieve

So when faced by the wall of disgustingness that is doggy hayfever

I have to call it... Spring is here...

So in celebration of the change of seasons

and as a distraction from the dog sneeze that just hit my leg

I am getting stuck into the suitable bright paintings on my desk

happy painting all...xx

Linking with PPF

and here is the link to Tuesday's post

Coffee Tins and Daffodils...