Day 85: Spring Forward

We finally sprang forward today. As soon as the Christmas holidays are over and we make it through January I start to long for this day. The daylight hours have already started to grow longer but with the added hour that we get with springing forward, the days are just that much more pleasant. There is the smell of spring in the air. What is the smell of spring? It is hard to explain exactly but simply put it smells fresh. Everyone is starting to clean away the winter grim from their windows, giving a more clear view out into the world, and those with yards or gardens are starting to clear out last year's dead, dried plants and replace them with bright, cheery flowers and green, fruit and vegetable bearing plants.

Today my husband and I decided to go out for a run. It was our first run together in over a year. I wouldn't really call us runners. We run as a form of exercise occasionally. Normally you'd find us, especially my husband, on a bicycle. However, today we laced up our running shoes and headed out our apartment door. Our plan was to walk to the south shore of Södermalm and then run along the water. On our way there we came across a community of allotments and there was a path leading between two rows of them so we decided to head up the path and do a bit of exploring while we ran.

The allotment houses are really adorable. They are intended to be storage sheds to hold gardening tools for working in the gardens. Yet many people have converted them into tiny hideaways. A sort of summer house if you will. One even had an outhouse on the small lot. The cottages do not have running water or electricity but seem to serve as the perfect getaway within the city, where one can garden and relax and just generally get away from the hustle and bustle.

We ran among the cottages and then into the park adjacent to them, running up and down hills and then finally making our way down to the water front. By the time we reached the water however we were both pretty beat so we ran just a short distance along the water and decided to head home. The weather was nearly perfect. Days like this are tiny blessings that we get to experience and then stuff into our back pockets as reminders. Reminders for the rainy days, the cold, dark, snowy days and all the other days in between that are just a little bit darker. I love the spring!