Sing, World, Sing!
It is spring, and this makes me very, very happy. (This post was started yesterday and not finished in time. And that’s OK.)
This is my first lilac flower of the season. My lilac bush doesn’t have many flowers on it this spring. I don’t know why.
Sing, World, Sing!
Now in chilly places
Where the snow had been,
Wood and field and hollow,
Easter flowers begin.
Now a bud is opened,
Now a leaf uncurled;
Spring is in the sweet wind
Walking down the world.
Snowdrops in the garden,
Violets on the hills,
Cowslips in the meadow,
Dancing daffodils
Seem to lift their faces,
Softly whispering,
“Easter’s nearly here, now—
Sing, world, sing!”
These are our 12-day-old chicks. We have yet to decide on names for them. Ian, Lucas, and Asher all insist that they have the right set of names. (I happen to like Asher’s names best.) They just insist on using their own names for the girls.
New leaves are unfurling all around us. This is my beautiful Chinese Elm tree. Right now its leaves are the most gorgeous new green.
Here is the neighbor’s yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis europaea). This stuff glows! The kids eat it and call it sour grass.
This is my own sorrel (Oxalis articulata), AKA shamrock, sleeping beauty, sour trefoil. The shamrock I bought at the nursery for St. Patrick’s Day is also an Oxalis with white flowers. So all these years that I’ve been refering to this plant as our “shamrocks,” I was right!
My irises have increased!
This lovely azalea won’t be pretty for long. So I make sure to admire it every day that it blooms.
In honor of the equinox, I refreshed our nature table. With Easter just a couple of weeks away, I pulled out our bunnies and eggs.
I hung our blown eggs and egg ornaments on a huge branch that fell in a windstorm. This huge branch is frequently in Ian’s way. I feel he would like you to know that, and that he is patient with my weird hanging artworks all over our home.
Lucas dyed this handkerchief—at school? at camp? I don’t remember. I didn’t realize how lovely it was until yesterday. The spring maiden was a gift made by my friend Parnassus.
This is a mosaic Ian made: perfect balance between night and day, dark and light. I love it.
To me, our nature table conjures plenty, delight, joy, and light. It reminds me of carefree days and celebration. The spirit of the season of Ostara is enormous potential, growth, striving, peace, and fullness. I’m ready for it all.
I heard Asher singing a song: “It’s almost Easter. It’s almost Easter.” So I guess the nature table has done the trick. I think it’s lacking some spring tulips, though. I’d better get some.
March 21, 2012 at 11:13 am
Spring is springing!! I changed out our “lenten” nature table (a sprig of flowering quince tree and a plaque of St Francis) for our springy one with egg decorations and a crocheted sheepy sheep. I think that branch will be in our way, too, but it is worth it 🙂