Little Spring Changes

Greetings friends! It was a longer hiatus for me than expected, but I find that I am lately more letting each day unfold as it comes. I am more than ready to embrace these warmer, if variable, early days of spring however! The season can be a long and protracted one. A frigid morning with a dusting of snow seems as much a surprise as the unseasonable warm day we had just before it here in Albuquerque.  

Home life unfolds quietly for me as the seasons pass. I find I gather up and put away objects much as the wind and weather does: gradually, and in not much of a hurry. On the other hand, like many of you, I am often a step ahead of things. With those crazy very warm days that tease us, I start looking for gardeny things for a long time before it's practical. 

And I am lured by the muted colors of a lingering winter as it unfolds into a gradual green. New Mexico stays brown for such a long time after everything warms up you might think that I want something more vivid, but the soft tones seduce me more in this transition of time. Indoors, at least. 

More garden pots and vases appear on the shelves. Bits of green.

It was so fun to find natural boxwood topiaries in a pair at the fleamarket! I covered their shiny metal buckets in scraps of Jeanne d'Arc Living paper for interest. The sheep have lingered untroubled on my top ledge pasture since December.

My Oxalis has lately kept blooming in such a friendly manner! So easy to have around for so many years now.

Recently my son brought in a goldfinch nest that had blown down into the garden. You can see where it broke away from its branch. I find nothing at all so charming as that wee bit of string woven in! A tiny nest is the sweetest little greeting for the coming of spring.

Not all of my pots need a plant to make good cheer either. Mine are souvenirs of a happy time at the pottery.

My little barnyard friends make me happy in spring too. But they have spent many seasons right where they are.

A few metal ceiling tiles strewn about make a nice posting board for an easy change up. Easy enough to lean against a wall for a new scene.

I love a bunny anytime, but he gets a nice feature this time of year too.

One of my recent thrills was finding this old metal step stool in the softest faded sage green. It felt like a sign!

So sweet that you came by!

Wishing you a lovely gathering up to Spring!

Jacqueline

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Lilac Therapy

Lilacs are considered a harbinger of spring. Ours came on more than a week ago and will suffer a freeze overnight after a day of wet snow that didn't stick around.

The boys went out to cover the rose buds, but the recently planted annuals will have to figure it out on their own. It's not a deep freeze, but is supposed to stick around for two nights in a row.

The cherry blossoms are mostly spent. We often get an Easter snow and it can be hit or miss whether we get much fruit eventually or not. Nature does what it will.

Blooms are such a good lesson in how to enjoy the fleeting moments in life. There could never be enough of them, and they never last long enough! I'm always torn between cutting stems for a vase or leaving them where they are for as long as they will last. Especially if there are only a few.

Little rituals are especially important now. Spreading out a pretty cloth. Using our favorite bits of china. 

I have selected a spot in the yard, just outside the door, for a table to spread things on. A meal, books, the computer. Nearby, along the stucco wall, is a newly planted garden spot (very small) to watch unfolding, and with a few small potted plants to admire. Flowers in pots make it so easy to refresh a little corner. Especially when you are not a real gardener!

On the lawn, under a tree, with a long view of green, I can hear all of the neighborhood birds and marvel at how quiet the world has become.

I never saw the old NY musical called Stop The World- I Want To Get Off, but I have certainly expressed the sentiment myself often enough. Who knew we would someday get a chance to do just that!? 

I know there are plenty of folks who desperately need to get on with things. But even with the hardships, I am finding that many of the people I talk to are settling in. Finding pleasure in the new routines. Waking up to the possibilities.

Nobody I know is bored. My son temporarily home from work says, "One day I putter in the yard, the next in the garage." And the new bonds formed or refreshed in families over these days may last for a lifetime.

I am reminded of a time in the 80's when our seven children were young. For a time we lived in a remote town in a small mobile home and there was absolutely no money. There was no phone, no internet, and no cable in those days of course, and the nearest neighbor a quarter mile away. During school days my daily bright spot was a drive to the post office about a mile away. 

The nearest "convenience" store was eight miles down the road. The grocery much farther still. There were few trips to the market, and lots of stocking up for a family of nine. Isolation was for a  completely different reason, yet feels so familar now. You learn what the conveniences in life really are.

And there are still plenty of trying times ahead. We're still preparing for the long haul. Bags and boxes of supplies are tucked everywhere like Badgers house in a page from The Wind in the Willows. (That just might be my wish to escape into youthful fantasy for awhile showing!) 

But these hard weeks to come could prove to be a blooming. Never meant to last forever, but perhaps the spring of something treasured as roses and lilacs. An interlude of loveliness amid the harshest of climates.

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."
-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Wishing you roses and lilacs,
 and many good days to come.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jacqueline

Armchair Travel & Magic in the Moonlight

Aren't spring blossoms the cheeriest?

 The surest sign of spring.

Not much else is happening outdoors yet, but the trees are beginning to leaf and the grass is greening up. I'm so glad that we are in the hopeful time of year in our part of the world.

This is the lovely second year bloom of my cast off paperwhites. I tossed the spent plant into the nearest flower bed right after Christmas two years ago and it surprisingly came up again in the spring. My kind of plant! 

To express my appreciation I have set up a little fairy garden set beside the solitary bloom.

The rest of the yard still lies in suspended animation.

Vinca

Something that has me enthused about gardening this season was stumbling across a mention of the film Magic in the Moolight set on the French Riviera in the 1920's. Need I say more? I had not seen it before but have now watched it a dozen times, often with the sound off. But the music is great too.

It's a perfect film for an armchair traveler. Released in 2014, PG-13, about three stars. The sets are luscious, the gardens divine. The lavish costumes are all vintage and gorgeous. The architecture and landscape are a main feature of the film. Lots of container plantings and dreamy verandas. We are going to do more garden pots this year because of the gorgeous scenes in this movie.

Oddly, I found the story more amusing when I read the subtitles with the sound off.

Magic in the Moonlight

Closer to home... rose buds are coming on.

And the little boxwood made it through another winter!

And lilac. (Unfortunately just a few this year.)

I was asked about the swarm of bees poem in my last post (a sketch from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady), so here it is in full.

"A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay,

A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon,

A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly."

... a proverbial bee-keepers' saying, mid 17th century; meaning that the later in the year it is, the less time there will be for bees to collect pollen from flowers in blossom.

Finally, it's national poetry month. Did you know? So if you're needing a little mental stimulation you might google "April is the cruelest month" and you will get a list of material to choose from starting with the text of The Wasteland by T. S. Eliot. Move on to questions to ponder like "Why is April the cruelest month?" and other discussions. Darkly thoughtful, and not as cheery as bee proverbs.

"The best way to understand the poem’s endless allusions — obscure in some places, impenetrable in others — is to have both the text and a glossary to hand. However, it’s also possible to appreciate the poem on a more basic level: its lyrical flow, jarring juxtapositions, and surprising images." From the National Review

Click here for the rest of the interesting current article.

Thanks so much for coming by!

 Your visit cheers my day like cherry blossoms.

Jacqueline