an aussie in austria

I love the fact that in Austria there are four distinct seasons. Over the next few weeks I’ll be publishing creative pieces on the sights, sounds and smells of the four seasons. Winter was last week. This is the second week, moving onto spring. Enjoy!

Spring

Snow turns to sleet and then finally rain. The ground becomes sodden and soggy as the earth begins its gradual thawing process. Faint wisps of warm breeze waft through the mountains and with it comes the sweet sound of early-morning birds chirruping and squawking in search of the season’s first worms.

Farmers get to work in the fields, a constant whirring of tractors ploughing and fertilising and planting. The sweet, rancid smell of blood and bone and manure remains stagnant over the land until the skies open and the rain washes everything clean again.

Blossoms burst open, lighting up different trees at different times in sporadic hues of pink and cream and white. It starts snowing again, but now it’s creamy flecks of soft blossom, floating through the warm air and blanketing the ground with a floral bouquet. As buds burst the first leaves poke their tentative tendrils into the warm air, testing it, and then call their friends, a symphony that layers green on green on green. Trees are pruned and fat bumble bees hover over brightly coloured flowers, an audible soft hum next to the mournful lows of the cows as they emerge back into fields to tug and tear at new grass.

Snow seems to evaporate from the tops of mountains, the plum pudding custard blanket declining daily. Over the grumbling of grass cutting and the quiet rustling of leaves comes the tortured sniffs of allergy sufferers. But the sun shines bright and optimistic on faces turned up to treasure its newfound warmth.