Cruel April

[PhilosopherFresh]

Well done!

[yafanna3]

I love this. It's so right on!

[pyramiaou]

In July the sun is hot Is it shining? no it's not August cold and dank and wet Brings more rain than any yet Bleak September's mist and mud Is enough to chill the blood Then October adds a gale Wind and slush and rain and hail Dark November brings the fog Should not do it to a dog Freezing colde December, then Bloody January again!

[phaedress]

Nice! Sounds like Ogden Nash.

[pyramiaou]

No, in fact it is Flanders and Swann's Song of the Weather... A typically British view!

[pyramiaou]

January brings the snow Makes your feet and fingers glow February's ice and sleet Freeze the toes right off your feet Welcome March with wintry wind Would thou wert not so unkind April brings the sweet spring showers On and on for hours and hours Farmers fear unkindly May Frost by night and hail by day June just rains and never stops Thirty days and spoils the crops Contd next comment

[Clarachk]

THIS is awesomely put together. Great choice of music! I don't recognise it though. Would you mind sharing what it is? I like the back and forth between the cruel-looking sky and the teased flowers. The BEST past was the ending. Perfect ending. That is, the way the music abruptly ended as the butterfly flew away.

[phaedress]

This music is from a movie soundtrack, every cut of which is pure genius.

28 days later.

[MamboDogFaceOne]

Really? The post "plague" horror flick? I skipped it because it was a "return of" movie which usually fail.

[phaedress]

No, not the second one: the first. It is a briliant movie in many ways. True horror of its time (i don't generally watch horror), with real characters and original plots.

I went straight to the store from the movie theatre for the soundrack and have been loving it in detail these past five (?) years.

[MamboDogFaceOne]

I have to admit I didn't pay attention to the sound track. I'll have to go unearth the DVD and give it another go!

[MamboDogFaceOne]

March and April are indeed taunting us all with false promises and a handful of small gifts. The mockingbirds are back, first new buds appear, the sap begins to bubble up... but then I buy garden starts, put them in, and the night freezes them off - ah well. I am always hopeful...

[phaedress]

I admire the gardener very much.

[MamboDogFaceOne]

Hope and faith are the gardener's most utile tools.

Ah bought me some tools today, ah'll be farmin' taters in haystacks this yar, 'long with all t'other vittles. Mmmmm.

[phaedress]

Do you require seasonal labour on your farmstead, m'aam?

[MamboDogFaceOne]

Oh, would I welcome extra hands! Is that an offer? :)

Pay is low though, just a share of the crop...

[Marihani]

Seems like spring is taking extra long this year - all over!

I have a new piece on LV that I think you might like - pop on over :-)

[phaedress]

have...oh, so much to watch!

[fehquig]

You're so close to Spring! I left town for a couple of days and found SNOW!!!

[phaedress]

It doesn't look close from where I'm sitting.

[fehquig]

Give April a chance to get to May. We've been having some cold nights here too, lately...

[TrentDonovan]

Nice compilation of images!

Dave:)

[phaedress]

Thanks! They're my personal favourites.

[Fringe111]

Wow, that was just beautiful. I really miss the seasons. I miss it all, it's like a rebirth.

5 stars

[cindyjo57]

Flourish where you are planted. Lots of room here in Victoria for a visit to get rid of the doldrums. It's definitely spring here.

[dulcajack]

Wow!! I really enjoyed this video. Great Choice for music. Fantastic images.

Thanks

Jack

[MysterEy1]

This reinforces why I always love Nature..

And another note: from email or wherever I read it, cant keep track.

No I am not half your subscribers! Probably only 15 percent. NOT even that, its less than 5 percent. Silly concept.

[MysterEy1]

But I know what you mean. The people with the most subscribers from me, can take it as meaning I visit their channel more often and watch more of their videos.

Subscribing is just a sign of my continued support! Nothing more nothing less. Its legal in the YT land rules and its free!!

[Clarachk]

You must be the one half of her Aussie fans, lol.

[DawndeeDALLAS]

spring to me is like a new birth. I take alot of pic's of flowers and trees. I guess I need to share them soon

[chastash]

Nicely done.

[phaedress]

thank-you!

[HoldinCoffee]

Dude. Spring, yay, its getting warm, the trees are budding, I see a flower, and look, the birdies are coming back. Oh shit, a snowstorm. Ha! Sucks to be that bird!! Hey Tweetie, go buy a farmers almanac!! Stupid birds.

[phaedress]

LOL!!

[3CoolKats]

Hey, some of those were September shots I think:) No matter though. Very nice video. Bring on warmer weather!!! I liked how the butterfly fly away was timed with the music at the end.

[phaedress]

Shhhh!

(I may have used some of these images before. But it was fun to let them out uncut.)

The butterfly shot (which,yes, the whole vid is getting to) may be the first video I ever shot after I got my camera.

[hrumphga]

Beautiful. I disagree with T.S. I think February is the cruelest month, April is just prickly and fickle. I would say that spring is almost here, but I am afraid to jinx it. So I wait was everyday watch little subtle changes that tell me that the advance of the season does, indeed occur. And every day, that evidence give me hope. Again, just beautiful.

[HeidiSaid]

I agree with you as well... (big fan of T.S. however)

[hrumphga]

Yeah, me, too. And where he goes with the story, it makes sense. But I have walked too long in the Waste Lands, and now I yearn for a taste of Spring.

[phaedress]

February is sad, bitter and miserly, to be sure, but it doesn't lead you on.

Doesn't strand you at the office wearing only a blaser that seemed totally adequate on a sunny morning but just won't do in the evening's howling snowstorm....

Doesn't make you want to run in green fields, only to wrench your ankle sliding over frozen mounds of recalcitrant snow.

[hrumphga]

True, but April holds promise, and constant progress toward May, and the return, however shakily, of the color GREEN! A watercolor wash of leaves on what were bare sticks. A sun that does more than mock you with light but no heat. And gives you a daily reminder that no matter what you do, or how you have screwed things up in your life during the winter, this old world still revolves in its orbit.

[HeidiSaid]

Wow... great point phaedress, but yeah - I'm a sappy believer in April showers bringing May flowers. (Actually found my first wildflower this weekend - Coltsfoot. Crocus's are coming up in a local town...)

I'm not even going to try to compete with either of your imageries as they both are not only valid, but beautiful as well.

For me - a very powerful video no matter what time of the year.

(I am glad to be out of February however...;)

[hrumphga]

Did February drive us ALL nuts this year, or is it just me? Heidi, Phae pokes fun at us sappy people, but I think deep inside she's...Canadian.

[phaedress]

FebRUEary was a beast this year, agreed.

But as this is the time for sappy people, it would be churlish to mock you, and pointless besides.

Moreover as a ---gasp!---Canadian, I must confess that deep inside me the sap runs as hot and sweet as maple syrup.

[hrumphga]

Hot and sweet does such sap run, and tastes all the better for the depth from which it pours.

[MamboDogFaceOne]

Jeff, that's beautiful! Are you quoriginating?

[hrumphga]

trying to bonmotify.

[MamboDogFaceOne]

Bonmotness achieved sir. :)

[phaedress]

Actually, I beleive maple sap is stored in the trunk, so technically....

But well bonmotifyed, sir!

[hrumphga]

Then... "O the trunk to tap, 'ere the sap is drunk, O." An assonatingly near-palindromic symmetry.

[vanillabloos]

It can't be too cruel. I've got a birthday coming up this month! Oh, wait. Maybe it is bad. I'm getting older!!!

-Derek

[phaedress]

Derek,

After a certain age (five, maybe?) birthdays become badges of honour:

You've made it another year,

congratulations!

[vanillabloos]

Yes, I would have to agree with you there!

[Juststircrazy]

Chills. Feeling overwhelmed. Damn...this is incredible, Doll Face! Wow...

[phaedress]

glad you like it...:)

[Illuminatta]

cewl

[phaedress]

LOL!

Toni,

you are funny!

[Illuminatta]

Why thank you, my phrend!

[DrfeelgoodEH]

This was very well done. You can see alot of hard work on this

Eddie

[phaedress]

Eddie,

durn it!

I knew I should have filed it one more time to take the hard-work dust off of it! LOL

[guitmartiman]

Kind of like birth pangs isn't it? Anticipation, despair, pain, and pleasure all wrapped up in a relatively short period of time. But isn't it worth it?

[phaedress]

Jack:

Yes, of course.

[guitmartiman]

Laurie's always telling me I have a gift for stating the obvious! LOL!

[phaedress]

It needs doing: don't ever doubt it.

[gleegirloz]

You always do wonderful thing s with the climate,or I should say observation of it! I will not be showing off about our weather anymore Phae.2 people were killed her today by the actions of 120km per hr winds.Bridges were closed,people ordered indoors,cars crushed by falling trees and we were told this was the result of a cyclone in Westarn Australia some 2000km's away! What have we done?:(

[phaedress]

glee,

cripes! The winds here have been getting stronger every year. Are winds getting stronger the world over?

Seems like it, doesn't it?

Sorry to hear about eh havoc over there. Keep your head down.

[Clarachk]

I wonder if it is a result of the earth getting ready for it's *flip*? That is, her magnetic fields. They say she's due and it has already begun. According to science, The North Pole will become the South Pole and vice versa. Hmmmmm.

[phaedress]

Yeah, I've heard about this. I wonder what it will affect, if anything?

[HeidiSaid]

Really wonderful video... & T.S.,  Great work!

[phaedress]

HeidiSaid ididgood!

i say:

thanks!

[HeidiSaid]

Oh jeez... :P

I'm just sorry I don't get here more often. I don't watch much but I really have enjoyed your work. ~peace

[ravensky23]

Very cool phae, loved the music building with it. Spring is on the way, although I see little sign of it yet. This time of year, right before the buds on the trees emerge, gets comfusing somtimes. One day it seems like November, the next like March. But it's now April and your flowers help remind me of what's coming!

[phaedress]

Yes, those shots from last year are like a promise made. A promise that gets harder to remember by the time six dreary grey months have passed.

I don't know why, exactly, but this has been a really difficult winter.

[ravensky23]

It has seemed very long. We had three snowstorms before Christmas and they never let up after that. We are finally snow-free, but I won't hold my breat, we often have snowstorms in April *sigh*

[sonicflyingmachine]

Flowers burst forth from the earth and say, "Look at me!".

[phaedress]

a gleeful greedy miracle everytime!

[sonicflyingmachine]

I was thinking vanity.

[phaedress]

okay, that to. :)

[jrsnyderjr]

while you in the winter lands

look forward to spring

we in the desert are preparing our homes

as an oasis for the brutal summer

when we hibernate...

think of it this way...sort of like a hemisphere reversal.

[phaedress]

wow,

are you really?

That's awesome. I had really never thought of that before.

How do you prepare your home for summer?

[jrsnyderjr]

Basically we do "spring cleaning" in January. Then in April clean up a bit again by making wsure all the ceiling fans, floor fans, drapes and blinds are clean. Replace all the a/c filters. Do all the plants, indoors and outdoors, so you just have to do the minimum hen it's 112 degrees. Get all the lightweight bedding out and prepare to make the house so it's shaded all time. If you use window blinds that let enough light through you don't feel trapped.

the idea is making indoors comfy cool.

[phaedress]

Wow.

I feel like you're descibing life on Mars. Thanks!

[sainter1]

Loved the great footage. The shaky camera works brilliantly, MA. :)

[phaedress]

does NOT!

I didn't realise how shaky it got. Ah, well, there is always the next time...

thanks for watching.

[sainter1]

Yes it DOES!! There is a fragility to it that I like and it all works well with the music.

You doubt the word of la Saint? *harumph*

[phaedress]

I doubt not the saint.

And then there is the truth of why the footage is shaky:

Shivering of fragile person holding the camera.

[sainter1]

Happenstance is a welcome blessing in the name of art. But take credit where credit's due, you subconsciously willed yourself to shake at just the right moment. I know these things, i'm a witch doctor!

[phaedress]

which doctor?

[sainter1]

The wicked one from the West.

[phaedress]

which doctor?

[sainter1]

Is there an echo in here? I said the wicked one from the West. Your middle name isn't Dorothy by any chance?

[phaedress]

man, you ARE a witch!

I didn't say that twice...must be the wind howling.

No, I'm not Dorothy, but I knew one. She was a jewish call girl who took up singing:

Yes, she went from bed to voice.

[sainter1]

*boom boom* LOL.