The Lost Spring

Monday 28th February

Day 313

Spring retreated today. It’s hot soup weather again. Before lunch we walk to the park - more of a march really, puffing up the hill, striding out against wind that bites and rain that pricks. The sight of furry pussy willow buds reminds me that young tender softness can survive in a cold snap.

I find a tub of vegetable soup in the freezer - from last autumn, so I don’t remember which vegetables. When I cook it up it looks as murky and sludgy as mud so I spice it up with some spoonfuls of Korma curry paste and stir in last night’s left over greens.

‘What’s in it?’ asks my husband.

‘I don’t know. The label came off in the freezer. It’s curried something now.’

‘Parsnip, I think,’ he says.

The daffodils in their blue jug on the table waft spring under our noses, bringing the promise of blossom and warm days to come.