Friday, February 18, 2011

Spring Stirrings

The sky has been gently overcast all day, but the rush and rattle of yesterday's wind
gave way to stillness.
A mockingbird sang in the old appletree, a bluebird balanced on the tip of a maple twig.
I went around the gardens at dusk with the barn kittens in attendance.
Only another gardener would be excited by these small but very promising signs of spring.
Here a clump of lemon balm presents fresh aromatic leaves.


This Yellow Simplicity rose is the first to show swelling pink leaf buds.
My efforts to focus here were hampered by Sally the Kitten who wanted to help.
The southernwood has wintered well and has the tiniest fronds of silvery green like miniature tassels here and there on its branches.

The air was soft and balmy. Although there was no spectacular sunset there was a brief afterglow when the trees and barns stood in silhouette.

I heard the peepers tonight!
I sat on the front porch as evening drew in with soft greyed edges, a mug of green tea cherished in my hands.
The voices of the peepers rose and ebbed, audible even when cars drove by.
The air smelled of awakened earth and of the freshness left by a brief afternoon shower.
Coming inside when I could no longer see where I was putting my feet down in the pasture, I was welcomed by the homey scent of bread not long out of the oven.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for taking a look at my blog.
    Yes, our cats are literally in and on everything, the house belongs to them. We have fur in our coffee and fur in the bed. The other day I changed the bed clothes on a rainy day, wrong move.... before I had got half way they were decorated with nice brown paw prints, Rupert had come straight in and walked all over the bed.
    We love these cats so much and although it sounds very negative, we are just hoping that we both live long enough to see them all out as we couldn't bear to think of them going anywhere where they were not treated as we treat them.

    We also have signs of spring, hooray, it seems to have been a long winter.
    Briony
    x

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  2. It's lovely finding all the your old friends appearing again isn't it? It's snowing here though so no garden tours for me today.

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  3. Your writing brings forth the little things in life that really matter, reminding us to look for and enjoy all the small pleasures that are waiting there for our notice.
    Today should see the remaining bits of snow disappear, and if it's not too muddy, I also will be out there, inspecting what might be peeking out after this endless winter...which is not even really over yet! Longing to see that first little crocus, leading the parade of unfolding blooms from now on...

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  4. Nice post. I like to hear the sounds of spring. I heard an owl hooting the other morning before the sun came up. Never saw it. Too dark I guess.

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  5. I think that you and I go looking for the same small and lovely things in our respective gardens, on each side of the Atlantic Ocean. Young plants and the swelling buds on trees seem at a similar stage and the air here is filling with early spring birdsong.

    We have also had some grey-to-apricot sundown skies. No spectacular sunsets. Just a pale fading of the light.

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  6. What a beautifully written post ...I was there with you ...and the kitten.xx

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