Sunday, March 21, 2010

Awakening

I've decided that the best way to shake the winter doldrums is to fly to the other side of the world and immerse yourself in the end of summer. Practical? No, but it was extremely enjoyable to visit New Zealand earlier this month.



On one of our hikes, I came across this tree fern frond that was ready to unfurl. I love how you can see the leaflets curled up within the curl of the stem. One of the symbols in Maori art is a curl within a curl, and I think it must have been inspired by these tree ferns.

Now I'm back to the proper season, although Mother Nature is having the last laugh as always. I arrived home to find all the snow had melted and mild temperatures had arrived, but yesterday the cold and snow returned for one last blast. At least today's sunshine and wind are doing a good job of melting the snow again!

I'm ready for spring to really begin!