This little succulent has been threatening death all winter long. It kept dropping leaves – they’d pucker and turn yellow then fall off – whether I left it completely dry or gave it a tiny bit of water. Towards the end of January it started etiolating (stretching out in search of light) and whilst I could empathise, I was also ready to give up on it altogether. Fast forward to the start of April, and I put it out on the balcony under my cold frame, thinking that the cold might kill it, but the extra light might save it. It hasn’t dropped any leaves recently and it has turned a lovely pink with the cold stress of being outside.
On Friday Ed afternoon and I visited Sutton Park for the first time this year. Sutton Park is a little bit too far out of the city to be considered ‘local’ and so we hadn’t been since December when Birmingham was put in Tier 4 and then a national lockdown. I took my long lens with me, hoping I might see the ponies, and when we arrived at Little Bracebridge Pool found two of them bathing in the water. It has been a dream of mine to see the horses bathing in the lake, but I didn’t think it’d be something I witnessed as the times of day I am there are usually quite busy, and to access the lake the ponies need to cross the main footpath from the heathland. I was surprised to see that they still have their winter coats, but then again it’s been quite a cold start to spring this year.
Every year I take the same photos in the same places. Blossom season is my favourite time of year, and after a childhood of moving every eighteen months to four years with my dad’s job, as an adult I have come to really appreciate the beauty of living in a place for many consecutive seasons and knowing the way the light will fall on my favourite haunts. I love that I have years and years of blossom photos taken in this same square, charting my progress from absolute beginner to where I am now. I love that I know the square’s best angles, and the best times of day to photograph it. It doesn’t make it boring for me, but rather it’s a great source of comfort. I know this city, it is my city, and it looks so beautiful in spring.
