Monday, April 22, 2013

Spring has arrived

Spring has arrived. It's been relatively warm for long enough that I don't think announcing it finally will jinx it. When I walk out the door in the morning I can hear the birds chirping and I can't help but smile because winter is finally over. On most days, I don't even need a jacket(!); appreciate the little things, right? As the warm weather has eased in, I've been taking advantage of it little by little. The past ten days or so have been bookended by nice spring walks with the family.

For the past few weeks I've been playing a lot of soccer outside with Jonas. We play across the street at the old elementary school where they have a walled in court/field that is a perfect size for one on one action. I usually win. One of the days we jumped the gun a little on the spring part; in the middle of our game between Jonas, his friend Jesper ("ginger") and myself, there was a sudden downpour of snow. We were not to be discouraged though and we continued playing even as our hair gathered flakes and the ground turned white.

Last weekend I went to mormor and morfar's house for the first time in Hillerod. We enjoyed a great Saturday brunch, complete with roast beef and plenty of wine. After lunch we headed into the woods nearby and built a small fire along the trail and visited the ruins of an old cottage that the king used to use when he wanted to get away from it all. I could empathize with him; it was nice to walk around nature on one of the warmest days thus far. Also, I found a frog.

Last week I went to the Carlsberg factory with my friend Hannah from St. Mike's. The two free beers at the end was why I wanted to go and it was worth it. But we spent more time playing with a barn cat we named Carl than we did inside the buildings. He liked me better because I gave him some of my sandwich.

The day before I walked around the city for four hours taking pictures of the graffiti that's all over Copenhagen. A lot of it is pretty cool and it's something you sure never see on postcards or travel brochures; it's not exactly something the city takes pride in.

There have been some small moments the past few weeks that I think have defined the change in the season. First, we spent much of Saturday working around the garden and Jonas even managed to drag me into helping him clean out the hen house. At the end of the day the kids wanted to camp outside that night in a tent; we decided against it in the end but just the thought of it would have been unheard of just a week earlier. (Good thing we decided not to; we got frost that night.) Then on Claus' birthday the next day we went to a park nearby and basked in the sunshine and ate cake together. The whole family came along, including mormor and morfar.

It may sound strange, but I think it was Friday that I knew it was spring at last. I was riding my bike near the lake by Fredensborg Palace after a day in the city. It was extremely windy, yet I was not cold. As I sped downhill towards the lake, the song First Breath After Coma by Explosions in the Sky came on shuffle on my iPod. The cool breeze, the perfectly aligned trees along the path, the approaching lake and that song were in perfect harmony at that exact moment. If you don't know that song, check it out and maybe you'll understand. Happy spring!

Here's the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0o8JCxjjpM It was around 3:16

1 comment:

  1. Carl definitely liked me better. He cuddled with me most even without bribing him with food.

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