Blossom by blossom ...

... the spring begins. 

I make no apology for uploading another photo of blossom. After all, what better illustration for the first day of spring, which falls today? 

When I was a child, I was always told that the 21st March was the first day of spring, which was of interest to me because that day just happens to be my birthday. As an adult, I then learned that the spring equinox can fall on either 20th or 21st March, although I discovered recently that it is now falling earlier of late, on 19th or 20th March, so it’s all very confusing

What I do know for certain, though, is that the friend I made at the age of 11 when I started at secondary school, is exactly one day older than me. So I'm wishing a very happy birthday to my fellow blipper and very good friend, GoldenDaisy!

For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins!
The days diving lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered its grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

"The Seasons" by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909)