Signs of Spring

Some of the flowers from my aunt's garden yesterday.
The heliotrope, however, was taken on the walk up, at the top of Church Lane. When I was a baby, the avenue to the Dower House my parents were renting on a farm belonging to relatives had heliotrope growing all along it. I was only three when we moved to Greystones, so I have almost no memories at all of Belcamp, but I feel the heliotrope must have "imprinted" on me, because I always love it, and will always pick a stem to smell any time I see it.

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

And no, the teasel isn't exactly a sign of spring - but it's a lot better photo than the ones I took in her garden back in the autumn!

When I was thinking about Greystones now having a half-hourly train service, I remembered how, when growing up, we used to have a *code* for ringing from Bray if we got that far and had aages to wait for the next bus or train - we could ring from the call-box at the train station, and if we let the phone ring three times and then hung up, my mother would know that there was someone waiting at Bray station. It was just 5 miles, so it wasn't too far to come in the car.