Green shoots

Apparently the expression "green shoots" has become a big no-no, at least as far as economics are concerned. That was the headline in my newspaper this morning in any case, presumably because politicians want to avoid giving us all some hope about a coming recovery.

Fortunately we can still apply it to actual green shoots as in the green that springs out of the ground at this time of year, and there is a lot of that. Of course the weeds always seem to be a lot faster than anything else but still, even seeing them is a sure sign that other more delightful stuff is also coming.

One of the strangest flowers we have in the garden is the hellebore, and it is also one of the earliest to flower. Sometimes you can actually see the beginning of the buds around Christmas time and the flowers are on view now. The flowers are, very unusually, green with a tiny hint of red/pink around the rim. I took several pictures of this flower, trying the same method as I used for the snowdrops but also picturing it more conventionally.

Today was the first day we actually were able to have our lunch outside. I'm not saying it was warm but it was sunny and dressed warmly it was just about do-able. Hopefully it will be the start of many!