Purple Delight

Despite late frosts earllier in the month, the ever faithful Clematis has once again returned.

And Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast

Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.

~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Sensitive Plant


 

May Days

"It was the month of May, the month when the foliage of herbs and trees is most freshly green, when buds ripened and blossoms appear in their fragrance and loveliness.
And the month when lovers, subject to the same force which reawakens the plants, feel their hearts open again, recall past trysts and past vows, and moments of tenderness, and yearn for a renewal of the magical awareness which is love."

~ Sir Thomas Malory, La Morte d'Arthur

Returning

Incredible blue skies and sunshine today. Lots of the stuff, it surely feels like we are slap in the midst of summer with this 78 degree heat.

Flowers are bursting out in full bloom, a virtual rainbow of colors, each day, a new surprise.
The wild turkeys are parading their new poults, the flock continues to grow.

Pop-up storms make their way through each evening, a welcomed gesture to cool the night air.

We'll take whatever help we can get.

Those pesky 17 year Brood XIV  cicadas have returned.

Rainy Days And Mondays

I was up with the lark this morning, awakened by the sound of rain pelting against the windows, long before the morning light itself had appeared.

As much rainfall as we've had in the past couple of months, our Spring growing season, should be a healthy one.

No dried-up soils here

.

" The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain.

This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you'd just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency. "

~Susan Allen Toth, England For All

Easter Blessings

Wishing you  A Blessed and  Happy Easter dear friends ...

ALL I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT LIFE I LEARNED FROM THE EASTER BUNNY

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
Walk softly and carry a big carrot
Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.
There’s no such thing as too much candy.
All work and no play can make you a basket case.
A cute little tail attracts a lot of attention.
Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day
Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
Some body parts should be floppy.
Keep your paws off other people’s jellybeans
Good things come in small sugar-coated packages.
The grass is always greener in someone else’s basket.
An Easter bonnet can tame even the wildest hare.
To show your true colors – you have to come out of your shell.
The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

~ Author Unknown

April Showers, Bring May Flowers

 A late night thunderstorm gave us some much needed moisture
The little pond is overflowing.
Soft rainfall makes for happy flowers, and one grateful little frog.

 

🐸

 

 

 

Cold, wet leaves

Floating on moss-colored water

And the croaking of frogs -

Cracked bell-notes in the twilight.

 

~ The Pond, Amy Lowell

A Walk In The Woods

                                            Now is the time of the illuminated woods.......

when every leaf glows like a tiny lamp.

~ John Burroughs

Oak tress come out of acorns, no matter how unlikely that seems.

An acorn is just a tree's way back into the ground

For another try

Another trip through

One life for another.

Shirley Ann Guann

Tennessee In Bloom

Color is once again returning to our landscapes.

The spring trees are in bloom.

Dogwood, Bradford Pear, Cherry and Magnolia, all doing their part, and adding their touch to the spring palette.

 

An altered look about the hills;

A Tyrian light the village fills;

A wider sunrise in the dawn;

A deeper twilight on the lawn;

A print of a vermilion foot;

A purple finger on the slope;

A flippant fly upon the pane;

A spider at his trade again;

An added strut in chanticleer;

A flower expected everywhere ..."

~Emily Dickinson

Color Comes To Town

I know that spring is upon us, when the Redbud trees start giving out their beautiful pink buds.

The redbud is a tree that is valued far more than its small size might suggest. This lovely harbinger of spring has been called “a breath of fresh air after a long winter” and no less than “one of our most beautiful native trees” writes tree expert Michael Dirr, of The Arbor Day Foundation.

It is hard to express adequately the miracle of a tree that had branches so bare all through winter suddenly go from stark brown to magenta.
But there she is again, emerging from her own winter of storms, freeze, winds, and drought, still standing, still surviving, still blooming, still giving.

—Shaku Selvakumar

Hello Spring

A few days of warm sunshine, and everything is unfolding from a long winter's sleep.

Fingers crossed Mother Nature is not playing a joke.

 

 

Were I to live a thousand years,

 I still would know that flaming thrill,

That rush of joy when first appears

 —the golden daffodil.

A thousand times my heart would sing

When purple irises unfold;

Or when forsythia's branches bring

Their dazzling showers of gold.

I could not see an almond tree

With branches all a rosy glow

But that a tide of ecstasy

Would through my being flow

Were I to see, a thousand times,

Blue scilla bells amid green grass,

I know I'd hear their fairy chimes

As I would pass.

Were I to live a thousand years

I'd never watch the nesting birds

Except through eyes bedimmed with tears,

My tongue bereft of words.

Were I to weave ten thousand lays,

Knew I a thousand songs to sing,

I still would lack the power to praise

—the miracle of Spring.

Silver Lining ~Wilhelmina Sitch 1888