Spring is Sprung

TODAY I really felt as if spring had finally arrived, marking the end of what has seemed to be an unusually long and hard winter. Blue skies and warm sunshine provided a much-needed note of hope and happiness, bringing the promise of better times ahead.

Birds sang, there were green leaves on the trees, and great drifts of glorious golden daffodils brightened the verges and parks.

This was the kind of April day that Browning yearned for during his years in Italy.  This was the inspiration for Home Thoughts from Abroad, and its wonderful opening line: "Oh to be in England now that April's there."

Browning's April, like Chaucer's, is a time of joy, gentleness and regrowth.

I love this time of the year, when the world is full of new beginnings, and you feel anything is possible.