Daffs

Acquired these daffodils on Sunday. It was such a beautiful afternoon, with a definite whiff of Spring in the air, and they seemed to capture the essence of the day's spirit of hope at the end of a long, hard winter.

It was a premature impulse, however, because Sunday's joyous sunshine gave way to dark storms overnight, with torrential rain and howling winds, and Monday and Tuesday were quite ghastly in every way.

And now the daffs are beginning to wilt and are destined for the compost heap quite soon.

The daffodilly painting here usually lives on a shelf in my kitchen and serves as year-round reminder that Spring will be back again eventually, however far away it seems. I've no idea who painted it - I picked it up for a couple of quid in a sale because I loved its colours, its composition and its fresh and friendly joi de vivre.

The plate is a 1920s/30s design by Barker Brothers, called Fantasy. If my home weren't already bursting with too much in the way of assorted bits of old tableware (as regular readers know), I'd love to acquire more pieces of it - it's so full of energy and life.

And the larger painting hanging on the wall, and only just getting a look-in is, of course, Rachel's Yellow Jug.