Moving Toward Spring

It’s a glorious sunny day in the Lowcountry. Dogs are basking in the sunshine. The bumblebees are busy buzzing about. Which is wonderful to see…guess my habitat areas I created for them last summer helped. Backyard needs mowed for the first time since November and, wouldn’t ya know it, no lawnmower. Looks like that stimulus check is going to need to help me find a nice secondhand rotary mower. Yes, the old-fashioned muscle powered mowing is still my preference. We don’t support fossil fuel use unless there is no choice. Someday I look forward to mankind outgrowing this and creating earth friendly systems for all our uses.

Today I celebrate the sunshine, birds with new nests, squirrels racing about in their springtime mating frenzy, dogs lounging in the sun, and the glorious return of bees to my backyard sanctuary. This afternoon I will carefully prune some of the longer grass and leave my clover and wild flowers to grow and spread. In the front flower bed I put in two new daylilies, the plan for this year being to add one or two new flowers each payday until the front bed is filled (it is completely barren…. apparently no one who lived here knew about shade-loving bushes and flowers. The daylilies are at the sunny end of the bed which is only a few feet across…but they will provide a wonderful spot of color surrounding the one small weeping lavender redbud I plan to add this spring, and slowly the shady end will be filled with hostas, a couple of hydrangeas in the semi-shaded area, and all the other shade plants I love and can’t wait to try.

Rejoice! Spring brings hope back to the Lowcountry. And it makes the heart smile.

May we?

May we dance once more now that spring is full upon us

May we revel in the moonlight on magnolia blossoms…large and white as china saucers, scenting the air with sweet perfume

May we stroll the shore as white crested waves rush to roll about bare feet and erase all track of what is left behind

May we begin again…with renewed hope, and grace, and determination in choosing the path before us

May we dance

April foolishness

A gorgeous day in the Lowcountry…mid 80s, clear blue skies and bright sunshine. Wisteria is coming back from the frosts that killed its first flush a couple of weeks ago, camellias and azaleas are offering a scant but determined final bloom and all around my neighborhood there are pinks, reds, corals, and soft purples rejoicing in Spring’s renewal. We have all the windows open every day and night and the fresh air is such a joy after the claustrophobic chill of winter.

The dogs spend a lot more time outdoors.  I spend more free time at the first wave of farm markets.  Last week’s excitement was over asparagus.  This week I am giddy over the prospect of first crop green (spring) garlic (as farmers thin their fields) and sugar snap peas.

Spring’s bounty in Asparagus, leek, and green garlic soup

The bluebirds are nesting in the backyard. I love watching them skim across the open flight path between the azaleas on one side, the shrubbery on the other, over the ancient wisteria to their little houses along the back fence.  As we are contemplating the possibility of moving from this lovely old house to a smaller place the one thing I should truly miss the most is this yard.  Most people miss their homes…apparently for me home is the outdoors, not the in.

Which means I probably should not be surprised at little environmental themes that seem to be continually popping up in my writing. Who knew dragons had such an important environmental niche to fill?  (okay, so that doesn’t really surprise me as they would be an apex predator and as such a linchpen in their cycle…. I just hadn’t really given it much consideration till they showed up)  Glad they did.

 

Monday Miracles

It was a good day.  Got daughter’s car back from repairs.  Worked here at the house and made some small progress.  Still much to do.  The tiny green shoots of my morning glories have poked above the soil an in a few weeks I will have flowers in a rainbow of colors.  It will be fun to see just what we have,

The dogs all got baths out in the kiddie pool in the backyard.  They love their baths and now they smell pretty too.

Next up for this weeks… try to get another 4 chapters edited.  Work.  And keep working on this house.

Enjoy SPRING ya’ll!

farewell March

… it was a lovely, if somewhat bipolar, month.  Days when it was unseasonably chilly.  Days of spring.  Even a few days that felt downright summery.  Rain.  Fog.  Bright sunshine.  And through it all, Spring came marching onward. Camellias and Azaleas bloomed.  Spring bulbs burst forth with flowers.  Bumblebees made a happy buzzing return rejoicing in the bloom of white clover and blackberry flowers.

Now March is swiftly passing and we await the welcome embrace of April.

Thanks for stopping by, March.  See you next year.  

New redux

The whole island is new again as Spring charges past winter (a month late but who’s counting?). The azalea hedge around the front yard and the house is almost entirely in bloom.  The camellias are still in bloom, although the reds which began the show are slowing, and the whites and red streaked ones are just beginning to really take over. And today the wisteria burst into full bloom…cascades of purple flowers covering the mounded bush and festooning the fence the other one is trellised along. The fat anole that thinks he ‘owns’ my garbage can was out sunning himself.  He puffed up but refused to move when I approached.  I will wait till nightfall when he has left his sunning spot for bed before I put the trash in the can.

The dogs have spring fever and have run in and out all day,

Tomorrow morning…hopefully and fingers crossed… I will be driving out to check on a car to buy for my growing brood.  A nice little hatchback that will hold all the kids PLUS have room in back for dogs, boogie boards, and beach towels.  Or groceries.  😉  Then in the afternoon I have an eye exam for new contacts.  Haven’t had an exam in 4 years… I am definitely due.  Excited to be able to see clearly once more.

And now…since it is a lovely Friday night… we have our Friday Fantasy.  Lots of thought on this one.  Current WIP is heading into the mountains….what better time to post a fantasy mountain scene?  Ever since the days I first read of Rivendell I have been in love with mountain keeps… what do you think of this one?

Here We Go Again

Another weekend slipped past but wonderfully marked the beginning of Daylight Savings Time.  It is, this year as always, a devisive subject.  For myself, and sun lovers like me, it should be permanent and never change back.  This is the proper time.  My children get to go to school in the light of the new day…not in darkness (which really isn’t safe as well as rather cruel, to make kids get up andf go off into the darkness every morning) and when they come home instead of it being dusk before they can change and get outside… they have another hour to play and run and …oh yes America! run off both energy and calories. People need daylight.  It is good for us.  Helps us sleep better, keep us healthy.  And Daylight Savings means more people see more light.  This is a very good thing.

Meanwhile here in the Lowcountry things got so much warmer.  Beautiful glorious sunny days in the 80s.  Green grass.  Flowers in bloom. BEES! Always so very happy to see the bees. My pear tree is in bloom and there they are…happily gathering pollen, bringing me a new crop of pears.

And so spring comes to the Lowcountry…bit by bit.  A little more sunshine.  A whisper of bees’ wings. Flowers and grass and the call of the ocean. It is so welcome here.

Shine on…

The first genuinely perfect spring day here in the Lowcountry!  It was 80 here on the island, bright sunshine and just the sweetest breeze blowing inland from the beach.  Everything smells of sun and sea.  Birds of every variety singing joyously, even the plants rejoiced!  My camellias, who have blessed me with daily blooms since December, went crazy with a wild, glorious profusion of flowers in this single moment of glorious spring weather. Reds, pinks, white, cream, and striped… all burst forth in a display unequaled with the long cold, dreary winter we’ve had this year.

In the yard, because the long-ago owners of this house were quite eclectic as to how and where they planted things, I have jonquils, narcissus, daffodils, and these lovely purple flowers I have yet to identify that pop up randomly in beds and lawn, and the huge red and white blooms of the amaryllis stuck against the wall of the house behind the azalea bushes.  A joyous display for those with the time to stroll this big ol’ yard and just enjoy the randomness of it all.

Today was a walking day.  To the bank, home, to the store, home, back up to the bank, back home…about 10 miles all told.  By that last walk home my feet were protesting, so once I got past the big road I took them off and walked the rest of the way home barefoot.  My tootsies were ever so grateful, the soft squish of turf and sand underfoot was a joy and a reminder that spring really is finally at hand…or foot, as the case may be. I rejoice in the return of flip flop weather.  What could be more perfect?

Not that winter is through with us just yet.  I hear there is another cold snap in a couple of days… but embracing these moments keeps it all in perspective. Winter will pass.  Spring is at hand.

Tonight I sat out in my bright turquoise lawn chair in front of my little house and listened to the night sounds, lifted my face to the warm wind blowing in from the sea, and stared into a clear star-flung sky with a soft full moon bathing all below in its gentle embrace. And life, my friends, is so very, very good.