Springing Into Inaction

Spring in Tokyo is always a delight for me, particularly as I age and the cold makes it harder to get active and the winter seems to linger endlessly, but sometimes it’s hard to see the silver lining in the clouds and today is a case in point.

I’ve got meetings all day today, so I got up early to head off on a quick ride to give myself some spark, but it was pouring rain. With my wet weather bike with disc brakes and thicker tires stolen, I don’t have an option to ride on days like today. So, I was stuck inside.

But my consolation came by being able to enjoy our garden, Kangaeroo Corner. Since starting my job last summer, I haven’t been able to devote the time to the garden that I had been since we laid it almost four years ago to the day. I had planned to re-lay our lawn next week to avoid it turning into a dustbowl when the searing heat of the summer destroys the North American grass seeds we use to try to get a lawn that is green year-round. However, I have let the grass grow this year and saw the results yesterday, which has prompted me to try and leave it longer and see if it can make it through the heat. It poses the risk of becoming a pile of dust again, but that will at least prove the test conclusively and I can take steps then.

In the meantime, the golden and silver wattles have both started to bloom. I stupidly pruned the silver wattle late in the winter, so it hasn’t flowered flamboyantly. So it goes. The golden wattle looks set to be fantastic. The flowers have been a little saddening as they have brought back memories of the miracle dwarf wattle that bloomed in spring last year after having apparently died the year before only to actually die in the summer heat of 2024. But life also proved it finds a way in the Corner of Death, a shaded area with poor soil that has killed everything I planted there until we put in the knife acacia. It looks like it will bloom this year! What a joy!