Closer to fine

You have to be close up to see these little flowers, brave pioneers of a spring not yet arrived.

In northern Europe we would have the snowdrops but I don’t know the names of these. It’s just one small aspect of being a migrant- a whole body of folk knowledge that every school kid would know: the names of flowers, trees, birds, which spiders will kill you, etc- but which has to be learned. Of course this lack of knowledge is reciprocal – my Aussie friends don’t know about stinging nettles or their antidote, dock leaves, although this ignorance is unlikely to prove fatal.

These pre-spring blooms and my unfamiliarity with them represent what it’s like to live in a place rather than just visit, a symptom of being closer. Hopefully this also means spring is close. I’ll let you know….

See also The first of warmth.

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Close Up.”