the blue muse

It was better than a snow globe. Actually, it was exactly what I imagine being inside a snow globe would be like. The biggest snowflakes I have ever seen in my life, mixed with Spring’s fresh greens and a grey-backed sky. It only lasted about 15 minutes, those giant flakes melting as soon as they touched the ground, but I stood outside and enjoyed the magic.

I spent the morning planting seeds, one of my favorite parts of gardening. Planting seeds is such an act of faith, of hope. And surprisingly, one that almost always pays off.

Spring still can’t decide who it wants to be. Winter and summer are playing monkey-in-the-middle with it. I haven’t thought of that game in years.

April is the month of change. I like that. I’m ready for one.

Ready to deep clean and discard, pare down and move forward. Both literally and metaphorically.

Caught in the cycle, once again. Learning to enjoy it, the ebb and flow, the warmth and cold, the darkness and the light.

Seeking out the magical moments.

Stepping outside. Listening to the sound of those giant flakes as they hit the ground.

Breathing in the scent of winter’s tears.

Yes.

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Wishing you a week filled with magic.

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This post is part of Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday.

It being my favorite day of the week, with lots of work to be done, and tonight, a fire to be made, sat in front of, enjoyed.

Yes, it’s cold enough for an indoor fire again.

Poet Adrienne Rich died this week. There was not a great deal of news coverage, but she was an important figure in the the world of contemporary poetry.

April is National Poetry Month. I have taken a huge leap of faith and signed up for NaPoWriMo, which is basically a commitment to write a poem a day for the entire month. This should be interesting. I will be posting the poems over at mrs. mediocrity.

I’m so glad it’s Friday. Now, I had better go and get all this work done so I can relax tonight.

I think the color of this flower is a poem all in itself, don’t you?

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Wishing you a weekend filled with loveliness.

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wide open spaces

a place to soar.

i stand rooted

arms outstretched

ready.

This was a weekend packed with, well, a little bit of everything.

Everything about it was outside of my norm, which, I admit, is usually pretty boring. But boring is good. At least some of the time…

It’s a well-known fact that Friday is my favorite night, the one in which I always put my pajamas on early, make pizza, relax by the fire, whether it’s indoors or out. This past Friday, I needed to pick my son up from the airport during prime pajama time. And I was happy to do it, but it did mean that my weekend got off to an unusual start.

The next day, I traveled an hour away to take part in The Soul in Bloom Retreat, and what a wonderful time I had! This was my first time meeting several of the wonderful women I have met here in the blogosphere, as well as many of the other fabulous women participating in the course. It was a day of sisterhood, laughter, nurturing. There was yoga and gardening, poetry and tea, hearts opening and friendships forming. It was a beautiful day.

And a far stretch from my usual hermity Saturday, in all the best possible of ways. It was a nice reminder that I need to get out more.

On Sunday, I went to help my mom sew new curtains for her kitchen. We spent some nice quality time together, and though we didn’t finish the job, we got a good start on it.

While I was there, my husband and son discovered an injured squirrel in our back entryway. We aren’t certain whether it had been hit by a car or if it was caught by our naughty kitten, or, perhaps most likely, both. But the poor thing was in a bad way. It made us all quite sad, and in the end, we put it in a safe place and made it as comfortable as possible, knowing that its chances were pretty slim. By this morning, it had died.

So, you can see what I mean, it was a weekend that was all over the place.

I could use another one right about now.

But Monday is here and it is new day.

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Wishing you a lovely week.

and live in a tent on the edge of the woods

build fires at night

and sings ballads of old

sip wine from a skin

and play games with your toes.

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wishing you a weekend filled with smiles and music

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The weather has been so glorious it’s almost scary. But I am trying to soak up the goodness without waiting for the other shoe to drop. My garden has literally burst into growth, daffodil shoots that weren’t there two days ago are now four inches tall. The next two days are supposed to be record-breaking in temperature, if this keeps up, there will be golden blooms by Friday.

My hopes to rework the bones of much of my garden in early Spring, before things really started growing, have already been thwarted. But that’s the way it is with gardening, the best laid plans…

You work with what you have, till the soil that you’re given, add in more of the good stuff, pull out all the weeds that are bad. You edit, constantly, lest things revert back to their natural state. In essence, to be a gardener, you must battle Mother Nature, which sounds counterintuitive, but it’s true. She already has her own plans for this little plot of land, plans set out long before I showed up with my rake and spade.

And so, we learn to work together, I compromise here, she cuts me a little slack there. She refuses to let me grow blue poppies, but if I am lucky, my passion flower will blossom. She lets me know when I am beating my head against the brick wall of her conscience, I smile when she allows an extra rose to burst into bloom in November.

Today there will be time carved out of a full-schedule to soak up the sun, to enjoy the kind of weather we shouldn’t be seeing here until May.

Because tomorrow there could be snow again.

You just never, ever know.

On the second day of my trip last weekend, we went to Longwood Gardens, which is, in my opinion, even better than the Flower Show. When we walked into the main conservatory, this (above) was the view that greeted us. It’s always a different display, but the grandeur and the scent are always fabulous.

After soaking up the sun and the smell of the main room, (and taking lots of photos) we headed into the orchid room, one of my favorite spots. More orchids than you can possibly imagine. Every color, size, variety–
all of them beautiful.

Then we wound our way through some of the smaller greenhouses, including one with several varieties of citrus, along with espaliered nectarine trees that were in full bloom. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to grow your own fruit?

And then on to another favorite spot, the cactus room. I just love the forest of old men cactus. (cacti?)

After that, we walked around outside for several hours, there was not much in bloom yet, but there are still wonderful sights to see. And we always have to make sure we visit the chime tower, because we have a very funny memory from one of our earlier trips. You can read about that here if you like.
(Giggling is good. Just saying.)

And before we left, we had to peek inside the greenhouses one more time, for that last extra dose of scent and color. I came across this single orange ranunculus, which was perfect in its sunniness, and it just so happens that I love its name as much as its flower.

All in all, it was a very good day.

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Wishing you a week filled with sunshine and words that make you smile.

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Yesterday the temperature soared,

and the first flower from my garden popped open.

One tiny, stray, leftover blossom

in a bed that has become more walkway than anything.

But when it is 73 and sunny in the middle of March,

you just can’t keep a good crocus down.

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Wishing you a weekend filled with sunshine and smiles.

More photos from Longwood Gardens on Monday.

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The theme of the this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show was Hawaii,
so there were lots of exotic varieties to be seen.
But there were also lots of my old favorites…

And the pressed flower paintings were amazing as always. It’s hard to believe they are made completely from pressed plant material. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the name of the creator, but this was one of my favorites…

I want one of these in my garden…

And maybe even one of these…

And these, just because they make me smile…

Walking into the show is like falling down Alice’s rabbit-hole, you suddenly find yourself in a whole new world, filled with wondrous places to explore.

It was so nice to see flowers and color and leaves on trees.

And of course, to giggle. My friend and I caught up
on a whole year’s worth of life.

And already, we are looking forward to next year…

How can you look at this flower and not smile?

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The Flower Show was wonderful, the giggles were restoring,
and my soul is now saturated with color.

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I am exhausted, so just this one gorgeous flower for now.
More to come on Wednesday.

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May your day be filled with smiles.