Two days ago I received this photo of the orchard at the Chateau. It has only been seven weeks since I was at the property strolling through 'le parc', imagining the colours of the trees in spring and the promise of one day picking apples. And in such a short time a change has taken place, the beauty of nature exploding in a mass of colour - it's like a dream! In a strange way the photo reminds me of the movie with Robin Williams, What Dreams May Come. Not the sadness but the colours - soft, radiant, angelic.

I then went back through my photo album and found a few more to share, le quatre saisons. Starting with spring just seemed the natural choice.

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.

Emily Dickinson

In July apple blossom breaks through and the orchard is a mass of white and pink. It's about two months too early for apple picking and perhaps the prospect of bottling some cider. As I wandered about I soon discovered pears! Can I just say it was the first time I had ever seen a pear on a pear tree. Incroyable!

By December winter is everywhere. Just light snow but enough to orchestrate the landscape with a different perspective of nature's beauty. I can't think of a prettier hue of colour opposites. Fluffy white snow, grey knobby bark, gentle pink golden sunlight blended at dawn on a cold morning. Nature's own colour wheel. And the finale to the cycle of seasons.

I think of what is ahead and consider Shelley's last line of Ode to the West Wind, "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"