SPRING WANTED

A PHOTO SEARCH

One day going to town I got stuck on the road. The back wheel of my bicycle was full of mud and refused to go any further. I turned the bike upside down and went into the bush looking for a stick to clean it. As I reached for a branch, I suddenly forgot about everything, because I saw this:

And thought...spring is here!

I took pictures of the leaves hidden in the buds until my camera was out of battery. Of course I had no more desire to break a branch from that bush, looked on the ground for some other "tool" and soon fixed my problem. That day the journey to town instead of the regular forty minutes had taken me two hours.

Yet the next morning I did not want to get out from underneath the blanket - it was so cold! When I rolled up the blinds I saw a picture like this:

Closer?

The land was white with frost.

It was winter once again.

But I did not lose hope. Every day I started looking for the signs of spring. Any flowers around?

This is lavender. It blooms all winter and does not count. Too bad. It has pretty flowers though.

Next day the geese continued looking for food on the frozen earth.

And so did their friends the chicken.

I then sneeked into their barn before the cow would see me
and found...

Nine beautiful eggs. As I looked for a nice spot to photograph that miracle, I found a flower. Maybe I should try to milk Tonga? I quickly think about something else...

So spring has been officialy found in Chascomus. Who cares if August is still considered a winter month in Argentina.


Truth is, I love the seasons, all of them! That waiting for spring after a winter, the warmth of the summer, the orange, yellow and red shemes from the palette of fall, the coming of one wide white carpet which cleans the landscape from any colour for lo-o-o-ng winter months. I wonder how come winter always feels the longest?

In my journey the closest I have been to experiencing the change of seasons was first in Japan where I lived from September 2007 till June 2008. That same year I saw fall in Alaska and Canada. Yet after that I have only known the seasonless world travelling Central and South America. These images, perhaps so natural and common to the place, are to me one very delightful and special present of the Road. Having missed spring for three years in a row I can really appreciate it now.