April Does What It Damn Well Pleases

There is a saying in German, April, April, der macht was er will: April, April, it does what it damn well pleases (ok, so I added in the swear word...) April weather can be sunshine one day, drizzle the next and, if you're really unlucky, even some snow the week after. Last Friday we had almost t-shirt weather loveliness, but for the past few days we've had what you see in this picture. No, I didn't take this photograph in the evening or wee hours of the morning. I took it at around 11 o'clock in the morning. A wet chill and gray, leaden skies like the kind I've only ever experienced in Berlin and Portland, Oregon. Talk about depressing....I went for a walk with Baby Li, naturally freezing my ass off in my way-too-light jacket. I can't help it. It's the stubborn Californian in me. April should mean good weather, I mean spring should start in late February, shouldn't it?


Last week the streets were brimming with life in a way that is only possible when Berlin wakes up from it's long winter hibernation. It was sad to see all of the tables and chairs at the cafes and the Markthalle chained up and forced to sit in the corner as though they had been caught misbehaving.



Even the places that were more optimistic and left their tables out had no customers crazy enough to sit outside. And this is Berlin, a city notorious for people insisting on sitting outside, sometimes with provided blankets, even when it's really way too cold for it (hey, you take what you can get...)




As I wandered through the neighborhood, pushing Baby Li in the stroller, I would pull out my camera from time to time to try and capture something that reminded me that this was indeed April and not November. Like the trash in this bicycle basket, of bulbs someone bought and used for some springtime planting.



And these bright flowers that are proof it is spring and summer that lie ahead, not the ever dreaded winter. Still, it's not too bad to know that the stores are stocking up on wine to get us through these last few weeks of April's moodiness...