First day of spring???

Today has been so warm and pleasant it's like the first day of spring, or rather as the first day of spring should be. I can't help but think that it's all a trick, though; once the flowers and the birds and the sheep get underway, there'll be a vicious cold snap that leaves the land strewn with pathetic little lamb corpses and frost-bitten flowers. Usually the first week of August presents us with the worst winter weather, so we'll just wait and see. Keep the thermals and the woolly socks handy.
    I've even succumbed to the general cheerfulness and optimism enough to sow some seeds. I planted some broad beans today, and sowed lettuces, chicory and corn salad under the ex-umbrella cloche. The camellias are starting to come out, I saw a spectacular red one outside the vets' yesterday. There's been no frost in the last few weeks so the flowers are in beautiful condition. Some Earlicheer jonquils are out, and the snowdrops and snowflakes. I found this nice little blue iris under the foxglove leaves in a warm corner by the conservatory. I can't think of an iris that I don't like; even the gladwin or stinking iris that pops up everywhere in old gardens like mine has a simple charm.
  The wood pigeon has been back to the holly tree. I was afraid that he/she had been nabbed by a cat, because there were a lot of white fluffy feathers on the footpath outside my house, but these must be someone else's feathers. The daft bird flies so low sometimes, it would be easy for a cat to catch.
  
Vis a vis Prince George. Poor child, George is such a dull name. I know it was his great grandfathers name, but for me it conjures up the horrible Hanoverians, none of whom were very clever or distinguished themselves in  good ways. One lost America and one was mad. Not a name bright with promise, perhaps.