Was that summer that just happened?

I am not really much of a one for flowers.  I don't think that it's a dumb machismo thing - cos I am not really much of a one for that, either.  They just don't really do much for me,  Perhaps part of it is down to the fact that I am, at best a grudging and somewhat inept gardener - few, if any, things that I have deliberately tried to grow have done so.  I have even managed to kill off mint, which I was assured generally takes over and grows like a weed for other less inept would-be exponents of the dark arts of gardening.  Perhaps it's not that; whatever it is, it generally concerns me not a jot.

There is, however one particular flower (if it is truly a flower - I don't know, or much care for that matter) that I do love to see - cherry blossom.  I think that there are few things more beautiful in nature than a flowering cherry tree in full bloom.  I still intend to replace the poster of one of Van Gogh's studies of cherry blossom that I acquired in Amsterdam, then foolishly neglected until it was too trashed to frame.  

I got to thinking about this because I noticed the first blossom emerging on the tree that is a few feet from the door of Christopher's nursery.  It has evidently been conned into coming out of hiding by the random day or two of sunshine that our wondrous Scottish weather has decided to throw at us, no doubt to pull the rug out from under our over-optimistically sandal-clad feet by then hitting us with a couple weeks of rain/hail/snow/plague of frogs more befitting a Scottish May.  I think though, joking(!) aside, that this is a clue to one of the reasons that I think I like it so much - it is a sign of impending (slightly) better weather.  Which is generally a good thing for my (and everyone else's) mood, coming from the darkness of winter into lighter mornings and longer evenings that make life that little bit better.

On a related note, I was interested to see research (done in Edinburgh) that suggests that the health benefits from exposure to sunshine (decreased likelihood of heart attacks and strokes, it seems) may well outweigh the elevated risks (but still quite low in Scotland) of skin cancer.  Particularly if you manage to avoid getting burnt - everything in moderation I suppose.  Though it is quite hard to get sunshine in anything other than moderation here!

So let us rejoice in the "cherry blossom in the market square", and try to forget how soon we'll be back to "dancing in stilettos in the snow"...