Textures of March
The wind gusts last night kept us all up during parts of the night. Although there have been some hints of green, it's now all white again outside. It’s beautiful, energetic, exhausting, and teasing.
I'm writing about March, the month in between. Can you feel it? Still waking up from a long winter's darkness. The eyes are not used to the sharp sunrays against the white snow. But oh my, how good it feels, to let those sun rays melt the aching bones. Coloring the gray skin. Soften the muscles with the warming light. We have the sun back in mid-February where we live. Still, it's not until now that the rays are starting to warm. Making the house warmer, the plants happier and the Cat even lazier.
The bread is in the oven. And I can't wait to return from my walk to a house welcoming me with the soft smell of french/fresh bread. Today is beautiful. The Glittering reflections from the ocean are sending more sunrays to my face. The long straight road of the island separates the sloped grassfields, now covered in snow, into two areas. On the one side, the fields are going down meeting the rocky beach and the ocean. Above the road, the field is growing upwards towards the forest. After the forest, the mountain is in the background. I can see it all from this simple small road. When you live on the islands on the Helgeland coast, you can reach the top of the mountain from the beach within an hour's walk.
I can see that the sun's rays have reached the trees - small soft sprouts are starting to populate the trees. We call them ducklings as they are as soft as duck feathers, protecting the pocket of leave sprouts. I always pick some to bring home. Bringing the branches indoors is forcing the leaves to sprout. This brings us to the spring a bit earlier in the north. Seeing the light green leaves is a reminder that the winter is about to loosen its grip on spring.
There is soft new snow on the ground. I can’t hear my footsteps and there is no wind. The only thing interrupting the silence is the occasional bird song. Soon there will be a lot more, as the birds arrive from their winter homes in the south.
As the sun hits the body it's becoming warm to walk with the thick jacket. It´s a common mistake. Take the gloves off or open the jacket and you can be sure to get hit by icing wind gusts and the clouds covering the sky again with snow-filled clouds. I better get home fast, breakfast awaits.
