Spring!

North Americans often don't realize just how far north we are here in Ireland, perched way up there at 53 degrees N latitude. In the winter we get less than seven hours of daylight a day, and in the summer, well, it seems like the sun hardly sets at all. If we were living at the same latitude, but in Canada, we'd probably be buried up to our eyeballs in snow and/or freezing our huevos right off. (Heck, with the way this winter has been back home, if we were living anywhere north of about 40 degrees we'd probably be up to our eyeballs in snow and frozen solid, but I digress....)

Unlike other locales, being situated right on the cusp of the warmth-channelling Gulf stream as we are, and washed on all sides by a large, moderating ocean (Hi North Atlantic!), this far-north latitude means relatively mild weather year-round. While we definitely do have seasons here, we rarely get much below freezing, even in the depths of winter, and we rarely get above 70 degrees F, even in the heights of summer. In August, when all I want to do is please-please-so-help-me-God just go outside without a jacket, my feelings on the Irish weather can be expressed in less-than-mild terms. But now, in late February, all this mildness means one thing: an early Spring!

I LOVE daffodils in February!

Love love love....

Now. If someone could just remind me of these gorgeous flowers come August, when I haven't bothered to unpack my summer clothes for the third year in a row, and I'm considering lighting a fire in the stove because it's so dang cold outside, it'd be great, m'kay? Thanks!