It might be a few weeks before it really feels like Spring but that's okay. I'm ready with this bucket list of ways to enjoy the season!
1. Make (and throw!) wildflower seed bombs. Jay and I have been talking about doing this for a couple of years now so I really hope this is the spring it happens. With the world's bees struggling so badly, it seems a crime not to get as many wildflowers out there as possible.
2. Visit a garden. We're not devoted gardeners, here at Castle Vanian, so it can be easy to miss out on some of the more exotic flowers around this time of year. The National Botanic Gardens of Wales isn't that far away, though, so here's hoping that I can convince Jay to take me.
✅3. Spend time in my garden. I do have a garden. Ish. Kind of? There's a plot of land outside my house that is sometimes home to living things. I would like for those living things to be more aesthetically pleasing, if possible. Trouble is, heat plus sun equals migraine for Wondra, while bending plus lifting equals crippling back pain for Jay, so this can be tricky.
4. Stop and smell the flowers. Do you make time to stop and smell the flowers? We're always rushing about, for one reason or another, and sometimes we forget to make time to enjoy nature. Let's all remember to stop and smell the flowers this spring!
5. Pick flowers/get a bouquet/buy myself a bouquet. Basically, what I'm saying here is that my house needs some cheering up! I know a lot of people say that flowers are prettier in nature (and they are) but I don't spend a lot of time outside my house so, if I want to enjoy the beauty of spring, sometimes I have to bring it indoors.
6. Make flower art. I especially love the idea of trying out watercolour, which I've never used before. This could go badly, though. If that fails, something like this could be fun.
7. Photograph the flowers. This will be a lot easier if I can visit a garden! I've also been wanting to do a photo shoot using cherry blossoms. They're never around long enough, so this'll be a race against time. There are always plenty of daffodils about, though, so I'll definitely try to get some of those. Oooh... and the bluebell fields. I'm actually getting excited about this one.
✅8. Watch a tree grow its leaves. One of my favourite parts of spring is getting to watch teeny tiny dots of green blossom into proper leaves. It really is a kind of magic. One year, I'm going to find a tree and photograph its leaves as it grows. Maybe this year? We'll see.
9. Enjoy a long walk. I've spent the whole year so far stuck in the house -- partly because of my Anxiety/Depression and partly because of a poorly pup -- so I could really do with some time to reconnect with nature.
10. Feed the birds & ducks. This is something we usually do anyway, but it deserves a spot here. I also want to start a log of the birds we see and where.
11. Make my own bird feeder. Have you ever tried this? Our neighbours have a TON of bird feeders but we have just one in our garden. Of course, we did have two more but the wind in the valleys is cah-razy so... you see why making my own would be smart? (There's a chance our old ones now reside in Oz.)
12. Make a birdhouse and/or bee hotel. I never made a birdhouse as a kid. Did you? What about bee/insect hotel? I want to try both. Problem with the bee hotel is that Jay is allergic to wasps. So, yeah... making it, good, putting it too close to the house, possible death. Hmm...
13. Photograph a rainbow/the clouds. I'm totally a rainbow-chaser. Poor Jay has to stop all the time to let me take photos of rainbows. I never seem to have a "real" camera on me, though, so that's the goal. Get a proper photo of a rainbow and maybe some stunning clouds.
14. Jump in a puddle/play in the rain. Shouldn't be too hard, since it never stops raining! Seriously, though, I need to stop grumbling about the weather and try to enjoy it.
15. Go to the zoo. It's been a long time since we've been to the zoo. I'd especially love to visit one of the zoos we've never been to, like Dudley Zoo.
16. Visit a castle or museum. Most of the castles around are only open during the spring and summer so it's time to go a'visiting. Jay's mom always promised to take me to St. Fagans National Museum of History but we never made it. Maybe I can get Jay to take me instead?
✅17. Celebrate Pancake Day (13th Feb). That's Pączki Day to you lucky 'ganders. Yeah, we don't get those here. *sniff* Instead, we get pancakes. Except...
✅18. Make British-style pancakes. British pancakes are more like crêpes than pancakes. I've successfully made them all of once in the time that I've been here. (I mean, I'm dangerous in the kitchen, anyway...) Traditional toppings include fruit, raisins, sugar, and honey. Ya roll 'em up (or fold them up,) and eat loads.
✅19. Celebrate Easter & Ostara (1st April/20th Mar). We're a multi-faith house so there are plenty of holidays to go around. Ostara is usually a quiet time for me, while we do the more traditional stuff for Easter. (Jay would never give up his Easter celebrations. He's agnostic but was raised in a Christian house.)
20. Dig into an Easter basket. I have a dream... Did you know the Brits don't do Easter baskets? Lame. I don't care how many chocolate eggs you get, it's never the same! I've probably dropped a million hints about Easter baskets but Jay remains clueless.
✅21. Nom on an chocolate egg/bunny. It's not that I have anything against chocolate eggs, of course. Mine last AGES, luckily, because I'm a nibbler -- as long as I can hide them from the hubs! 😉
✅22. Decorate eggs. Here's my problem: our eggs are brown. I've never seen an egg here that was anything else. How the heck are you supposed to decorate those? No, seriously... leave a suggestion.
23. Bake bread. You know, I could probably count the number of times I've baked bread on one hand. It's a traditional way to celebrate Ostara, though, so I really want to have another go.
24. Play with a bunny. No more small animals allowed in Castle Vanian (Blod sees them as snacks) but I'm dying to play with a bunny. I can see myself getting kicked out of a pet store this spring...
25. See a bunny in the wild. There's a field nearby where lots of bunnies live. We make a game of counting how many we see (if any) as we go by.
26. Make Easter/Ostara arts & crafts. There are so many Easter/Ostara crafts I want to try! Wanna see some of them? Off to Pinterest you go...
✅27. Celebrate National Poetry Month (April). It's really an American thing that doesn't get much attention here but I try to get involved each year.
✅28. Read/write poetry. Especially read. It's been ages since I've read any poetry. I would like to read more modern poets; I just don't know where to start. I'm open to suggestions!
29. Make a magnetic poetry kit. I did this once before (and still have it) but I've got a stack of old magazines waiting to be re-purposed so let's do it again!
✅30. Make blackout poetry. I recently finished my first book of blackout poetry and can't wait to start the next one. It's a fun way of creating poetry without the pressure of creating poetry.
31. Learn a new poetry form. I know a few styles of poems but I really need to branch out and learn something new.
✅32. Celebrate St. David's Day (1st Mar). Okay, so St. David is the patron saint of Wales. Traditional ways to celebrate St. David's Day involve daffodils, Welsh cakes, and...
33. Wear traditional Welsh dress on St. David's Day. I've been wanting to do this since I moved here but my husband is a great big spoil sport. What do you say? Should I do it anyway? (Or, maybe I should just go for a dragon instead?)
✅34. Celebrate Beltane/May Day (1st May). If you don't know much about Beltane, that's okay. All you really need to know is that it's sexy time for witches. It's also a fire festival and jumping over a bonfire is traditional -- but thinking of me having sexy time might be less traumatic than picturing me anywhere near a bonfire much less leaping over one. 😉 May Day is pretty much the same thing, to be honest, but Wondras are inclusive. 😁
35. Make a maypole. The maypole has got to be one of the best parts of Beltane. (Except for, you know, the sexy time. Lol.) There are some really great ways of making mini-maypoles. I think this is my favourite.
✅36. Celebrate the amazing moms in my life (13th May). Mother's Day is a pretty sad day at Castle Vanian. (Well, except for Blodwyn, who always gets a treat.) This year, I want to stop feeling sad that neither Jay nor I have our moms around. Instead, I'm going to focus on the moms who are in my life, doing awesome mom-stuff.
37. Do something nice for Jay in memory of his mom. I actually have a couple of projects in action but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll tell you about it later...
38. Make a wind chime. As you can see from this Pinterest board, I've been thinking about this for a long time. My grandmother had this window between her dining room and kitchen that was just loaded with wind chimes. They never made any noise (If they had, I would have been out of there -- that place was totally haunted!) but they were beautiful to look at.
39. Make a fairy garden. I've been seeing other people's fairy gardens a lot lately and I'm absolutely in love. I didn't think it would be possible (seriously, my garden is that bad) but I found some great tutorials on making them in planters and things so this can finally happen.
✅40. Get some spring cleaning done. And by "some" I mean BUTTLOADS. Buttloads.
41. Bake cupcakes. Do we need an excuse for cupcakes? Oh, look! Spring's here, let's have cupcakes!
42. Paint rocks. I fell in love with this idea when one of my friends told me that painting rocks and leaving them around for other people to find is a thing. I just need to get my hands on some good rocks...
43. Get crafty. My craft corner needs a serious purge so I'm going to try to craft through as many of my supplies as possible. You know... so I can buy more!
44. Perform random acts of kindness. This will always be on my bucket list. The world is a nasty place right now, full of horrible people doing horrible things. That means the rest of us have to work twice as hard to make up for it.
45. Cross something off my bucket list. Er... my official bucket list, not my seasonal bucket list. Huh. I guess I'm kind of obsessed with lists.
Wow. That's a lot of stuff!
Spring is a really hard time for me. My Depression and Anxiety are really bad this time of the year, especially during April and May so I'm going to need a little encouragement to stay on top of things. Keep me focused, y'all.
