The blessing of Spring (and the rewards of Jog Squad...)

About four moths ago I joined a ‘learn to jog’ group. In the beginning I liked it very much, but as the jogging increased, so did my pain. Apparently jogging causes an old injury of mine to flare up-and just like that, jogging was no longer fun. I limped to the finish line of my beginner jogger course, but could not move on to the next group. At this stage the saying, "As jy nie kan verder gaan, begin jy weer van vooraf aan…"  comes to mind. The point of my story? (Other than the obvious, that sometimes one needs to begin at the beginning again...)

Although the actual jogging part has been difficult, the springing of Spring has been amazing. When I started four months ago it was dark and wintery, but now there is light and greenery and many blossoms. This fills me with gratitude; this makes me happy and smiley.

A couple weeks back, I noticed some fabulous green flowers. It was the first time that I had seen that particular tree in flower, as well as the first time that I had ever seen that kind of flower-a double joy. I picked a few blossoms and brought them back for casting. The casts were successful, so I had a mould made from one of them and I had a few cast from that mould. This is my double joy blossom ring.

First picture is of the ring made up and cleaned, the second is after it has been oxidized and the third is after most of the oxidization has been removed (leaving it only in the recess areas) and it has been lightly tumbled for a bit of polish.