Silvan in the Springtime

Hello Gadabouts! How have you been keeping? Apologies for the silence here, don't mean to leave you in the lurch this way. I have been having all sorts of technical issues with my computer, including wanting to throw it out the window (we are in the thick of Mercury Retrograde so it is to be expected after all) and before I knew it- Spring had sprung and we emerged from another cold winter shedding all sorts of layers, de-cluttering, forming new routines, trying to break old bad ones and re-awakening from the winter slumber! Hooray!!

I'm so excited by the seasonal change and the fact that we are into day 2 of daylight savings! More time to get stuff done- even though essentially we lost an hour, go figure, so how does that work? Anyway- this time of the year is perfect for venturing outside of the heated stuffy house and see what is in bloom in nature, witness the bees suckling on flowers, flitting from one to the next and feeling sunshine on skin! Cheap thrills! 

So with the arrival of a new season, it is always nice to christen it with a trip down to Silvan in the Dandenongs in Victoria for the Tesselaar Tulip Festival. It is always an enjoyable journey leaving the bustle of the city behind on the train and approaching the sight of the mountains, arriving and smelling the difference in the air and getting on board a coach trip meandering through the hills for our destination in Silvan. 

I love going every year as it feels like I've stepped into another world, a safe, vibrant and colourful world with music, sunshine and pretty flowers as far as the eye can see! We arrived for Turkish weekend where there were lots of costumes, music and Turkish wares on offer (restraint was needed amongst the accessories)but it was amazing to experience one culture, while enjoying the Dutch aspects and then when we arrived back into Melbourne that evening, we stumbled upon the Mexican Festival! 3 cultures celebrated in one day! Love Melbourne! Unfortunately the festival ends today, it runs throughout September, but I hope some of you lucky Melbourne residents took the time to go down there. For those that didn't, enjoy some of the floral numbers on show this year basking up the sunshine as did I. How do you celebrate the start of a new season? Any rituals? Events to mark the occasion? I'd love to know.