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The vernal equinox has officially occurred, and it’s a sunny, warm, and exquisitely pleasant day. The daffodils knew – they suddenly burst from the sullen ground, their smiling faces beaming from the still-austere brown vegetation surrounding them. Trust the daffodils.
Continue reading “Spring Is Here: The Daffodils Know”
One of the surest signs (other than the fabulous uptick in laying by the poultry) of spring’s impending arrival is the sudden, almost magical, reappearance of the dependable day lilies. Though they die each season, leaving just the detritus of dry stems poking up from the ground, one day, tiny green shoots appear…and, soon, the reborn blooms will assert their fiery orange cheer on the world. I eagerly await their return!
Inviting, yes…and uninvited. But no invitation is needed for this lovely greenery: morning glory vines just seem to appear along a rock retaining wall near our house, stunning with their early-morning cornflower radiance. A cheery flower, indeed, and a wise one, retiring (for the day) in the afternoon. That we should all keep such a schedule – an afternoon siesta might keep us similarly glorious!
And for the pedantic, I know rhyming haiku is somewhat frowned upon in poetry circles. I don’t care. The verse flowed, so I’m going with it. I am, after all, a rebel at heart.
Are these popping up around you, too? I guess that it’s February showers that bring March flowers (at least now). It’s such a psychological boost to see the austere winter landscape coming to life once again and the earliest happy faces, the daffodils, smiling serenely…as they always do. Don’t forget to stop and smell those flowers.
For the fellow word nerds out there: what’s more satisfying when composing haiku than a single word that both fits the bill and has five syllables (swoon)? It’s like playing Scrabble and using every tile…and that’s how I prefer to play it, making as many (arguably esoteric) polysyllabic words as possible and trying to use all of my tiles. It may not rack up as many points, but it’s so much fun!
The daylilies, so bountiful this year, have been gone for a couple of weeks now – which is why I was so surprised to find these hidden gems. I was actually checking on the progress of ripening elderberries in the towering bush that covers much of the pile when the flash of color caught my eye. Few flowers are orange out here, so I moved some debris and found these. How they survived and bloomed with branches and clippings covering them is a puzzle, but they did…and now, beauty lives in the brush pile, too.
The peonies are blooming – such color! Such fragrance! As with much of Nature’s beauty, it must be enjoyed now, as they won’t last long. Stop and smell the…peonies. 😊
