Spring Springing Up All Over

We have certainly had our share of April showers this month. This is excellent because the past winter was much too dry here in the plains around the lake. Given the voluminous snowfalls in the mountains, which have - in spite of the strong Swiss franc - helped to make the ski season profitable in the communities that depend on tourism, it is likely that some parts of Switzerland will later on have more problems with flooding than with drought. But for right now, farmers, gardeners and plants in this area are happy to see the moisture. Colors from one of the small community gardens nearby are brightening up a still drab outdoors.

Much of this community garden is still lying fallow. Plant covers, such as that to the left in this photo, are still protecting fragile sprouts from temperatures that have made this April the coolest of the past three years.

Of late I have had to seize a moment between showers to get in a bike ride. But yesterday morning was one of the nicest in several days, so I attempted one of my favorite paths, which has become green once again.

Today, I am happy to spend this afternoon indoors watching one of the classic English race meets, that held at Aintree. In about an hour, the famous Grand National steeplechase will take place. While there are lots of potential story lines, one that particularly cheers me up is that there are two women jockeys, Katie Walsh and her sister-in-law, Nina Carberry, in the classic race this year. Both hail from Anglo-Irish racing dynasties and both will be mounted on horses that could win. They're both getting backing from the racing public.

What great fun if one of them could win! Velvet Brown, the famous fictional jockey who won the Grand National in National Velvet and who was denied the win simply because she was female would be fully vindicated! So I am naturally rooting for both female hockeys. Whatever happens, I hope that all 40 horses and their jockeys will have a good race and wish especially that no horse and no jockey will be hurt. That has happened much too often of late.