March is a tomboy with tousled hair,
a mischievous smile,
mud on her shoes
and a laugh
in her voice.
- Hal Borland
While the heavy wind chime played its mellow tune as March
winds heaved and hoed its steel tubes into each other, I listened as its random
song lulled me into a stupor of mild intoxication. I listened for what seemed forever, but of
course, forever is never forever; and as the wind lost its fury as if fog
beneath the rising sun, so did my equilibrium return to normal affairs of sameness.
I remind myself she lived, and I remind myself she died. Sometimes I feel I’ve already forgotten my
sister was ever a part of my life. Other
times, it feels like business as usual…that if I picked up the phone and called
her, she would answer. Maybe if there
was closure… but her family remains silent.
Life is life these days.
Progress is slow on my me room
or whatever one calls it. She shed,
studio, shack, den... I’d rather call it the library…if one can call journals
the library. Packages coming through the
post office seem to be hitchhiking on the backs of turtles, and my console will
ship by freight after three weeks of sanitation. That seems overkill, so I’m thinking it’s
more of a logistics issue.
Yesterday windy…today drizzling rain…I feel like a seltzer
tablet foaming away until there is none.
I have nothing to give. My photographs
aren’t quite there, and I have no desire to work until I get it right. My attention is defunct, and as I return to
this computer for the sixteenth hundredth time, I feel as if the air between my
ears dried my brain into a whacked hockey puck.
(Above) Bittercress with its exploding seed pods
Wasp nest blown onto ground
Yellow Corydalis
Lacewing Larvae with its coat of lichen and dead insect bodies.
If one looks closely at the little tike below, two legs are barely visible.
Persian Speedwell
Marleen the Starling Fine Art
Purple Deadnettle
Sweet Dustin soaking up a little sun in the spring coolness
Then
the
rains...
(Above) Shooting Stars unfurling on the left -
Species Tulips on the right.
(Below) Spicebush blooming
Lichen fallen from Ash Tree
Moss covered stepping stone drowned in leaves
N. x odorus 'Plenus' Double Campernelle Daffodil (Fifteenth Century)
First daffodil to bloom this early spring
My carpet of lovely green weeds is doing fantastic, thank
you. They are filling up with a blanket
of miniature flowers, the kind you must view with a magnifying glass on your
hands and knees to see if they are more than just colorful confetti scattered abroad
by the breeze.
Early daffodils are in bud, but all the other bulbs and corms are
mere leaves reaching for the sun. Birdsongs
float in all directions weaving a tapestry of early spring in the air that will
not last, as spring and winter are always in an on again, off again March battle to warm
or cool.
It seems sweater weather, but I enter this warming coolness
without it, and walk and walk and walk without other colors of flowers. The weeds and birds reign today, but one
morning an explosion of plants hell-bent on taking over the entire planet will
occur…just mark my words.
It might be tomorrow. I can feel them now, planning their assault...heaven help the mortals with mere hand tools...they will be toast! The second wave of weed purgatory will unlash the dreaded vetches with their long tentacles, the cleaver plants with their hooked stems and leaves and burr seeds, goose grass, spurge, sweet Miss Dandelion, and on and on and on.
Long live these immortal garden headaches that will rule the earth until its sun implodes!
Hoorah
!
...Hoorah, thank for the preview of spring which is slowly coming our way.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your sister's death. Unfortunately, sometimes forever IS forever.
ReplyDeleteYay, for Spring. Your Dustin looks like a sweetie. I am looking forward to seeing our first blooming daffodils. My hubby the master gardener, loves anything that flowers especially the dandelions. At least the bees will be happy. Take care, have a happy day and a great new week!
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful piece of writing. Thank you for sharing it.
I really like the photos and the words with which you linked these photos together, making up a wonderful story about spring and life.
ReplyDeleteAll the best, Yvonne! ❤️
I'm leaving with the image of Dustin in mind. ❤️
You have such a gift of language and observation. Hitchhiking on the backs of turtles. Indeed, you are so right! Don't sell yourself short when you say "My photographs aren’t quite there, and I have no desire to work until I get it right." I think they are more "there" than you are giving yourself credit for. But I get the lack of motivation to get it right. I go through spurts of being rather focused and then easily distracted by anything. We shall see how Sunday goes. Meanwhile, I am smiling as I read your most eloquent words.
ReplyDeleteYour prose is prosaic and your photography precise and very lovely the way you home in on the chosen subject. Take care Yvonne.
ReplyDeleteDustin is a smart dog, he knows where the warm sun is. I enjoyed seeing your photos and reading your words. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAmazing nature captured beautifully in pictures and words!
ReplyDeleteA woman mailed me a check on March 1 and it still has not arrived. She called the bank to see if it had been cashed by someone else and they said not to worry, many pieces of mail are taking two weeks now.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you.
Beautiful selection. Have a great new week.
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful photos spring is coming.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your photos.
Greetings Irma
Hello Yvonne,
ReplyDeleteI think your photos are beautiful. Dustin is a cutie, soaking up the sunshine.
Happy Spring, my favorite time of the year! Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Have a great day and a happy new week! PS, thanks for the comment.
Oh such divine nature shots of Spring gems ~ I am so glad to see the 'green' ~ soon New England will have some too ~
ReplyDeleteYour doggie is one handsome one ~ love to your fur person and you.
Living moment by moment,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
You can play with the words so beautifully and your photos are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to leave a comment so late ... I wasn't on the blog!
Have a nice week ahead!
Your photographs are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
so many beautiful photos in your post, but what caught my eyes was the camoflaged larvae. :) Cool to see. :)
ReplyDeleteWasps nests are so intricate and seem to hold millions of wasps.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I am so sorry for the loss of your sister, Yvonne.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are incredibly BEAUTIFUL!
Condolences on your loss. Feeling lost is not unusual, so don't feel alone. When it's time, you will get back to the other things.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are fabulous :)
Thank you for being a part of 'My Corner of the World' this week!
I love the quote. All of your images are beautiful. Especially nature's artwork, the wasp nest. Good eye.
ReplyDeleteYour words are beautiful too. I hope the spring winds bring renewed happiness.
ReplyDeletethis is so beautiful, i really loved the poem!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quote, and your photos are stunningly perfect. Thank you for sharing, they have brightened my day.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
~Jo
Sorry to hear your loss...
ReplyDeleteYour post is lovely.
The last paragraph above the bittercress describes exactly how I felt trying to do a post today (except, you know, described so beautifully by a real writer like you). And I don’t have the excuse you do. I’m so sorry to learn about your sister. .... and of course I related to what you said about your pictures not being quite there. But then you go on to show beautiful nature photos that I would be proud to call my own on my *best* day!
ReplyDeleteI have also met the lacewing larva shown once before, just because it was moving I was able to perceive it. Your camouflage is perfect and I wonder how many things are there that our eyes don't notice? https://griesheimersand.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_61.html
ReplyDeleteSo true. Sometimes I take a photograph of one thing, and when I look at it in my photo program I discover something else that is almost invisible to the naked eye. So much of nature around us that many never see.
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