April Snow Showers...

After having some wonderful, gently warm and sunny weather, I woke this morning to a beautiful dusting of snow: not enough to stick on the ground, but powder the roofs and some plants. Indiana, our 2-year-young mix pup, loves the white stuff and gets very excited whenever he can run in it. He's a hoot! Be that as it may, I had a nice, meditative walk around the yard taking pictures of the spring snow. So I thought I'd share them.

The camellias have outdone themselves this year! I think "Multitudes!" every time I walk by them. They reach above the rooftop of the garage, and every branch has numerous buds and blooms on them... it is a font of lipstick color! With the delicate veins on each petal, it looks as though Mother Nature has left her fingerprint there. They help me remember to breathe. Deeply. And they tickle my heart with joy.

The forsythia is looking a bit tired. I've been noticing the forsythias on my rounds of Henderson County, and by far I love it when gardeners let the forsythia bloom and branch like fireworks. The ones that are trimmed to "fit" a regular shape look so restricted and stunted and unhappy. Those that are left to grow explode with yellow joy! Independence Day for Forsythias!

Our rosemary (my favorite herb and scent... well, next to Patchouli) is vying with its neighboring camellias to show who can produce the most blossoms. And while the camellias are certainly more showy, the rosemary is beautiful and smells wonderfully! My favorite color is green (what a surprise, eh?) and I love the combination of green and purple (as well as green and pink). And when it smells great, what more could one ask for?

I hope your day is full of heady delights.

Peace,

Kate

A Teasing Nature

For 14 years, we have lived in a wonderful old Craftsman home with beautiful old plantings gracing our yard and standing sentry for our home. Among the old oaks and magnolias and camellias is a stunted white tulip tree. It is small; it may be declining, I can't quite tell (all our old dogwoods have been declining and dying because of the mountain blight that has held them hostage for many years). Our tulip tree blooms at the same time her pink sisters do, in early spring. Early enough so that there is often a biting frost between the blossoms peeking out of their brown blankets and the blooms opening fully to the sun.

I took these photographs of some of the white blossoms on Friday, amazed at the beauty of the blooms (which I had never seen because of those freezing night frosts). The blossoms are delicate, and in the morning light, they looked as though they were poised to take flight.

Sadly, Mother Nature is a tease this time of year: while our days have been lovely, sunny, and fairly warm, our past 2 nights have been at or below freezing. This morning's frost was too much for the brave tulip, and all but a handful of her blossoms were burned brown by the temperature. It makes the fact that I saw the pure white beauty -- albeit briefly -- that much more special. Another lesson in transience.

I hope you see the beauty around you today!

Peace,

Kate

Another beautiful morning!

Spring is literally springing up all around. Check out this amaryllis! I was given the kit for Yule by my friend Kathryn. (Isn't the wooden birch pot great?)

I waited until Feb. 2 (Imbolc, the mid-point of winter when the ancients celebrated the returning of the light and the first stirring of the seeds underground) to plant my amaryllis bulb (while planting my intentions at the same time. I also had some friends over for a "Peace Feast" to plant their own seeds of intention in pots of dirt that evening. I plan to begin hosting periodic "Peace Feasts" again; I stopped when my full-time job took over my time and energy. I was laid off the end of January, so now I am able to focus on what I want to bring into my life.).

My amaryllis stayed in our kitchen for the next four weeks -- through February's cold -- and in the beginning of March, I started putting "her" outside in the warm sun (or the quenching soft rain) for a couple of hours a day. Yesterday, I took the first photo of her. This second photo was taken this morning! She has grown at least 1 inch in one day! Isn't that absolutely amazing... imagine how quickly those cells we all diligently drew in 6th grade science of plants and the process of photosynthesis, etc.

I wonder if you had a sensitive enough microphone: could you hear the growth? It is so astoundingly fast, I can't imagine it is completely silent.

Our camellia bushes are covered with buds. Yesterday, not one was open; only a few had a thin lipstick line of pink or rose grinning with promise. Today, there is one bloom opened (just peeking out from behind the garbage can) and lots of lipstick smiles. My heart leaps when I see this. It feels like my joy reverberates with theirs; it feels like a giggle in my chest. How's that for cool?

The sun is blessedly warm; the shade is still chilly, as it should be. It won't be long before I'm griping about the heat. For now, I am thankful for these harbingers of spring.

I'm not used to getting up an hour earlier yet. (I hadn't used up the hour we gained back in the fall!) Paige and I had an early teachers' conference this morning at 7:30. We left the house at 7:15 and the sun hadn't even gotten up yet! Well, with the turning of the year, that will take care of itself. Paige is a junior in high school and now is the time for her to focus on doing her best so she will have a successful year's end. I must remember to be patient!

Have a lovely day.

Peace,

Kate