BLUE SKY MORNINGS

I like waking up to blue skies. It’s one of the nicest things about this little season. Before the grass pollen turns my face into a puffy red streamer, the springtime is a delight.

Especially the mornings. My friend Kathie taught me a word the other day: apricity. It’s the warmth of the sun in winter, that little glimmer of hope in springtime. Blue sky mornings are tingling with apricity.

I also love the colours at this time of year. White blossom looks particularly good against a bright blue sky, don’t you think? Vivid, bold and new, like fresh paint or a clean line drawn with a ruler.

Yellow flowers bob happily in the delicious green grass, or grow along fences and hedgerows. There are hints of pinks and purples, reds and oranges too, singing in the sunlight, dappling the shade.

This is apricity. That warm reminder that everything will be alright. There are still cool breezes, sometimes a frost, and yes, as last week, even snow! And yet, when the sun is just strong enough to persuade you you don’t need a coat, when the light falls through the blue sky and touches your skin with gold, then you know there’s a bit of hope around. And maybe, just maybe, the day will work out far better than you thought it might.