We've been waiting a fortnight for the day to arrive today. The weather has been pulling all manner of boners since the article in the papers appeared and today. We've had it all--rain, sleet, ice rain, wet snow wind ...and so forth, but this morning promptly at 09.30 there was sun! As if it was on cue, the grey clouds melted and the lazy sun began peeping over the horizon, flooding the woody park outside our apartment building. What a thrill it was, getting out of bed with the grey darkness of the wee morning hours making sombre overtures. The harbour tower is in the west and looked discouraging. However, on the east side, one could make out hints of light between the linear grey clouds. There was hope. In the time between when I got up, bathed and started on my first cuppa tea, we could already see that it was going to be reasonable. The Bride got up before me and had already begun making sarnies. I was sleepily "hanging" in one of the living room chairs, squinting at the clock--eight-something. Was it poor visual acuity or the lack of the will to waken? Hibernation is not just for bears, y'know. So then--the initiative: A chap had organized that for 1,000 euro's of council money he could deliver 10,000 spring bulbs. There would be a small stand at the entrance to the local wooded park and citizens were invited to come. The man had garden tools, paper bags with a layer of bulbs in them and advice. We could plant the bulbs anywhere in the park. There were snow drops, crocus, winter aconiets, bluebells, daffs, fritallaria sorts and some tulipa turkestanica. It was a good variety of spring bloomers. While working, I had the song in the thread title in my head-- (Do You Have A Moment For Me?). A sort of silly song, but appropriate for the day and job at hand. It was time for graft-- We started with one bag and then went to a bucket and ended up with a third bag. The ground was soppy and of course there was dog poo everywhere...but hey--it was dry and sunny. We planted a large area under some trees in the grass. We went back to the little stall to return the bucket and speak with the organizer and to thank him for his good idea. We wound up taking another bag and planting some bulbs at the park's entrance. My Bride had had enough at this point and headed off home and sdaid that she'd have some cocoa for me when I came home. Talk about motivation! Right then--oké, it wasn't the correct time of year to plant spring bulbs and the bulbs were not in optimal nick, the ground was actually too moist, but despite the small technical hitches, it was worth trying to beautify our city. We figured that if only half or even a third of the bulbs produced a bloom, it would have to be called a success. The city chaps told me that if this action was successful, they may try it again next year as well in this or other parks. There were a couple of newspaper folks chatting and taking pics. The media notoriety will help in promoting the initiative I should imagine. Literally ten minutes after getting home, it began sleeting, then raining. I was lucky. The Bride had some hot chocolate waiting. I shucked off my muddy trousers and other kit. It is all washing now and I am warming back up. While I was here logging the account of this morning's action my Bride saw that in a certain place in our town was a stall with bratwurst and other foods--a Christmas Market. It sounds like supper to me, Skully. For those who may want to listen to the silly Dutch song, here is the link: I always think of drinking beer in the summer time when I hear this.
Sounds like you had a fantastic day to work on a pretty fantastic idea that will hopefully have some fantastic results and everybody in your city will fantastically benefit! Good job and will keep my fingers crossed for a good end result.
Lively song,..i could even see myself getting merry at some beer garden listening to it as i downed cool frothy beer in a huge tankard That was a good idea with bulbs provided and your own spot to plant them,..next spring you can visit and admire your bulbs in bloom,..yes i liked that.
well, it was a wonderful idea and now we are awaiting photos come spring, I am sure it will be lovely.
Thanks so much, ISLAND--heh heh heh....Well, I did have a fantastic time doing that. I can tell you; however, that I am a bit stiff this morning though. Everything good has its price, I reckon. I can see one of the areas that I planted from the window of the multi-media room in my house. The Bride and I take turns during the course of the day to walk to the window....look out to the green place under the trees and say--Humphff--they're not up yet. One of the areas where we planted the bulbs: Of course we did not have enough to plant the whole area, but we planted some here and there. The park stretches out from this point to the left and right. Here is an aerial view of the park. The place in the above pic is just under the "N" in Nieuwe Wal. Hey PHILIP--Glad that you liked that tune mate. hahaha. It is catchy, I'll give you that but not really my sort of music. Back years ago when it was popular, the whole country was singing it and using the title in their everyday conversations. I sure hope that some of the bulbs will come up and not rot. It is terribly moist here at the moment. If you walk out in the woods of the park, there is water standing in the low areas. The area is outside the old dikes, you see...so, quite low. I hope so too CAROLYN. --We shall see. Thanks ODIF--There were loads of folks walking by the little stand, sadly though they did not come to plant...they were leaving the saturday market in the town centre and heading for their auto's. Having said that though, there were still quite a few adults and some children planting in the verges along the newly laid paths.
That is a great project, if we were to have such a thing it would be lovely ... yes I missed the beauty of spring in Europe. Nice song to go with it!
