First Day of Spring

First day of spring and it's flash flood time. Let's harken back to Sunday at the arboretum - cloudy, breezy, and festive. Discovered this little nook, tucked off the DeGolyer home entrance. Quite cozy.

You're worried about how you're going to feel at the end of your life? What about right now? Live. Right this minute. That's where the joy's at - Abigail Thomas, writer.

learn flower names
bask in bountiful purple
snapdragon sway

My happiness is not the means to an end. It is the end. - Ayn Rand, author

To be quite oneself one must first waste a little time - Elizabeth Bowen, author

Spring Fever

New chaise lounge. Can't be indoors. Must slather on sunscreen, grab all reading material and head outdoors. This is after mowing the yard, weed wacking, and then wiping window sills, windexing windows, and ALL other spring cleaning. There's always a weed to pull. If I wrote a word for every weed, I might be ahead of the publishing game.

Ray assembled his new grill. High potential for summer eating. Brats, hotdogs, hamburgers, and (if on sale) steaks. Gotta love shiny, new pretty implements.

Spring is the period

Express from God

Emily Dickinson

Glass of cheap zinfadel. Magazines - WSJ and Time. Book - Ape House by Sara Gruen

Tunes playing - Adele 21 - Rolling in the Deep

Jennifer Hudson - I Remember Me

Hanson - Shout It Out

The world's favorite season is the Spring. All things seem possible in May - Edwin Way Teale

April 2nd and Ninety Degrees

April is National Poetry Month. Our April Fool's Day in Bedford, Texas blossomed into summer with Opening Day of Ranger's baseball and the first pitch a balmy (!) ninety degrees. Let's see what poet Edna St.Vincent Millay had to say about April.

Spring

To what purpose, April do you return again?

Beauty is not enough

You can no longer quiet me with the redness

of little leaves opening stickily

I know what I know.

The sun is hot on my neck as I observe

The spikes of the crocus

The smell of the earth is good

It is apparent that there is no death.

But what does that signify?

Not only under ground are the brains of men

Eaten by maggots

Life in itself

Is nothing.

An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs

It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,

April

Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

A Little Madness in the Spring - Emily Dickinson

A little Madness in the Spring

Is wholesome even for the King

But God be with the Clown -

Who ponders this tremendous scene -

This whole Experiment of Green -

As if it were his own!

I shall ponder with you the madness of spring (and in Edna's case the decision to use the word maggots in her poem) as I rest my weary bones (from garden projects) in a patio chair.

Weather Plot Contrivances

First day of spring in Texas generally heralds blue sky, sunshine, shorts, and spring break - idle poolside contemplating swimsuit season.

First day of spring 2010 - I don't think so. First 1-1/2 inches of rain and then the dreary day turned worse. Far more foreboding with snow flurries that accumulated. One inch in Bedford. Record snow for this day and almost a season record from DFW Airport. We were 1/2 inch behind for the year. Darn.

My flowers said, "What?" "Why?" "Oh, My God!"

New exciting rock treatment in the backyard - snow?

Yep -truth is stranger than fiction. Thus, my next plot point twist and turn could be snow on the first day of spring. Driving hazards, freeze dangers - just the whole description of snow and the fascination. Lovers hunkered down in front of a fireplace. Or the reality - punching the button once again on the thermostat and trying to figure out where that fits in the budget. Will folks believe it? They better!

Serene Stopover

Visitors stopped by the other day. In no hurry, they lounged poolside and plunged into our rather brisk water with nary a qualm. They floated happily, bemused by the pool cleaner, and unmussed by the fountain spray.

I tiptoed about taking pictures and I'm guessing as long as I didn't do a cannonball off the diving board, they were delighted to pose for this post.

I think they were scoping out nest choices and our back bushes looked inviting except there are rumors of a large hawk in the neighborhood. They paddled to and fro, possibly wondering about the lack of water reeds, fish, turtles, and other nature flora and fauna.

They left quietly that evening. No farewell quack. Just a few downy feathers floating in the pool. Cute couple - we wish them well.