Their season is way to short for my liking.
“There is no closed figure in nature. Every shape participates with another. No one thing is independent of another, and one thing rhymes with another, and light gives them shape.”
― Henri Cartier-Bresson
The lilac tree is getting ready to bloom.
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke
I bob and weave my way in and out of the weeping cherry in our front yard. There is a light breeze coming through the branches, moving the blossoms every so slightly and I wonder if there will be anything in focus. I am pleased when I upload the photos, finding a few that make my heart sputter.
“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.”
― Henri Cartier-Bresson
It poured rain, making me ache for sunshine and a ray of warmth.
But then the day came when I woke to sun.
And while it was wonderful, something was missing.
Has my last ray of hope given up on me too?
“I am more modest now, but I still think that one of the pleasantest of all emotions is to know that I, I with my brain and my hands, have nourished my beloved few,
that I have concocted a stew or a story, a rarity or a plain dish, to sustain them truly against the hungers of the world.”
― M.F.K. Fisher
Even though I don’t relish cooking like I use to, I still think beans are one of the most beautiful foods one can serve.
“If you have two loaves of bread, keep one to nourish the body, but sell the other to buy hyacinths for the soul.”
- Herodotus.
A memory . . .
The small hillside leading to the lower yard in our old house was covered with grape hyacinths each spring. One day come spring, I would hear my three boys run up the stairs to the deck and burst into the kitchen, hands behind their backs. I would then know they had noticed the hyacinths were in bloom. They would each hold out a hand and present me with a beautiful bouquet. The stems would be varied in size and sometimes hard to emerge in water, and the bouquet often included a few yellow dandelions added for color.
This was back in the day when my friend and I threw house parties of all kinds, someone would come and set up displays of candles, or maybe bakeware, and one of my friends had a crystal party. The only crystal I owned was a candy dish an aunt had sent me when I got married and I had never used it. But I bought three, tiny, beautiful crystal vases at that party in anticipation of the beautiful bouquets my sons would bring to me throughout their childhoods. I still have two of those vases and they have served me well over the years.
Today I have no idea where that candy dish is.
“That’s the trouble with March—the warmth never lasts. There’s that narrow stretch when it parades as spring, just enough for you to thaw if you’re sitting in the sun, but then it’s gone.”
― V. E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Determined to not let March bowl me over with the rain and gray skies, I get myself outside whenever I can. We get the vegetable garden ready; I redo the beds, turning in new compost, while he puts in a drip irrigation system for me! I plant snap peas, leeks and lettuce, and now wait patiently to get more in the ground. I go out most days with my camera, taking short walks and even get in the car with the soul purpose of finding wonder. We try a couple of new restaurants in town, and I marvel at the creativity and drive of young people who are brave enough to take chances. I spend time lost in a few good books, and watch The Elephant Whispers, crying at the beauty of the world. Percy comes on Thursdays, filling our home with constant motion as he gives up his afternoon nap. We take walks with his binoculars, marking a 16 deer-day one week, and he helps us ready the garden with his new rake and shovel. I give lots of thought to how I mark the rhythm of my days; leaning more and more about what brings balance, purpose, and integrity to my days. Finding the more I align myself to how I really want to live, the more fulfilling I find my days.
“Due to their short bloom time, Sakura blossoms are a metaphor for life itself: beautiful yet fleeting. You’ll realize when you’re as old as me to hang on to the good times because they won’t last forever.”
– Shannon M. Mullen
The day is fickle. Rain falls at daybreak, and clouds carry on until mid afternoon. It is so cold I wear my heavy coat to the library. Late afternoon arrives with full on sunshine, not just pockets of it, but warm rays and blue sky. I pick a few cherry tree branches and stick them in a vase with some water. They won’t last long, so I will be sure pay them their due respect.