Tuesday, April 16, 2024

A Walk In The Woods

 Now is the time of the illuminated woods.......
when every leaf glows like a tiny lamp.


~ John Burroughs
 

 

 

 
 

  Oak trees 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
  
                           




Saturday, April 13, 2024

Home Thoughts From Abroad




Oh to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark! where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge -
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower-
Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower.

Home thoughts from abroad  ~ Robert Browning 1812-1889

Sunday, April 7, 2024

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

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

April Showers, Bring May Flowers

   A steady spring rain has fallen all day. 

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

Friday, March 29, 2024

Easter Blessings





ALL I EVER 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



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






Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Color Comes To Town

I know that spring is upon us, when the Redbud trees start giving out their beautiful lavender-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



Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Growing Season

The new spring grass is growing at a phenomenal rate, I suspect it has something to do with all of the rain that fell throughout the months of February and early March.

 "April showers, Bring May flowers"
Except a little early....
 
 
 

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Unfolding

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

 


Saturday, March 9, 2024

Spring Forward

 



This coming Sunday at 2 am our annual clock fiddling takes place once again.
An hour forward to Daylight Savings Time, payback for that extra hour of sleep, we enjoyed so much back in November.
Spring is not far behind,  just ten short days,  what a lovely thought...…
 
                                                      🐇🐇

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Hello March

A glorious sunshiny day today.

I've been busy as a bee, changing out the now-tired Winter decorations and replacing them with Springtime favorites.
The birds are feathering their nests, fluffing and cozying for the next generation.
A season of re-birth, promising new beginnings and hopefulness, in an otherwise chaotic world.


 

" It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations