Spring is in the making
It is a quiet Sunday afternoon in January. It’s grey, wet and cold outside – but, hey, what would you expect. It is January; the darkest month of the year. Or so we think….. A walk in the garden tells us quite the opposite….. daffodils and tulips are on their way up. Birds are chirping, looking for food (which my daughter amply provides in numerous bird feeders). We left the fallen leaves as protection for smaller wildlife and in order to keep moisture in the soil. But, since spring is on its way, so is spring cleaning. And the garden does look as if it could do with a good clear-out.
With year-end festivities and birthdays behind us (Monique and I do have the pleasure of celebrating our birthdays on 24th December and 2nd January), the Christmas tree brought to the recycling depot and decorations stored in the basement until next year, it is time for some 2022 planning.
Please don’t understand me wrong – I absolutely love the Christmas season, but am ever so happy when the house is back in its normal state and we are looking forward to spring.
Over a nice dinner of oysters and ‘’waterzooi’’ (a traditional Belgian seafood stew) last night, we have come up with some plans for the blog, which we would like to see expand this year.
We will be starting a series of workshops on gardening, cooking, home decoration and renovation. And although we have been enjoying writing about all the things that interest us, it is a very time-consuming activity. So, we thought we could go for a more visual approach.
Spring brings even more celebrations, starting with Chinese New Year, which I love to celebrate with some traditional Chinese cooking. There is always a reason for some serious cooking…….
Valentine’s Day is next on the list. I love the tradition of sending anonymous Valentine’s cards. It is just sooooo romantic, don’t’ you think so?
Another big one is Nowruz. Not very well known, but certainly worth learning about, Nowruz is one of humanity's oldest holidays, and although it may be often called Persian New Year, it predates the Persian Empire and can be traced back 5,000 years to the Sumerian and the Babylonian civilisations. Nowruz begins on either 20 March or 21 March, on the spring equinox, when the days and nights are equal lengths, with days then becoming longer signifying the arrival of warmer weather.
We will be showing you some Nowruz traditions nearer the time.
Stay tuned……
