May 31, 2017

...be wild and perfect for a moment


Thank you, spring.  You've finally unpacked your bags, hung your clothes in the closet, and tucked away your toiletries in the guest bathroom.  We're delighted you've decided to stay awhile and we look forward to a long and lovely visit.  My garden, described so beautifully by Emily Dickinson, is an experiment in green. As I write this morning the window in front of my writing desk is cracked open so early morning birdsong can encourage me as I carefully choose my words and photos.  Yoo-hoo, cries the black-capped chickadee from the pine tree, while the scarlet cardinal trills merrily on the nearby telephone pole. My heart answers with its own song - praise for the sunrise, thanksgiving for another day, a heady gladness/madness in the spring.


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!


We planted this creamy white rose bush several years ago in memory of our sweet Shih Tzu, Belle.  Emily's poem about "another garden" seems the right verse to pair with this lovely memorial rose...

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/there-is-another-sky-by-emily-dickinson
There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/there-is-another-sky-by-emily-dickinson
 There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there; 
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come! 

It rained last night, so I was able to capture the lovely raindrops glistening in the early morning sunlight early this morning...


The pretty Rain from those sweet Eaves
Her unintending Eyes --
Took her own Heart, including ours,
By innocent Surprise --
The wrestle in her simple Throat
To hold the feeling down
That vanquished her -- defeated Feat --
Was Fervor's sudden Crown -- 


Although Emily D. was passionate about her gardens and according to her niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, there were "ribbons of peony hedges" at the Dickinson homestead, the poet never wrote about one of my very favorite spring flowers, the peony.  Fortunately Mary Oliver wasn't silent about these fragrant and lovely blooms...

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers
and they open —
pools of lace,
white and pink —


and all day the black ants climb over them,
boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away
to their dark, underground cities —
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,
the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding
all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again —
beauty the brave, the exemplary,
blazing open.


Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?
Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,
with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?

from New And Selected Poems by Mary Oliver




There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/there-is-another-sky-by-emily-dickinson

May 25, 2017

 Image result for sometimes the littlest things

Didn't we just celebrate a Very Important Person's third birthday? Yet here it is, just two days later and it's whoo-hoo-let's-celebrate ANOTHER VIP birthday girl - Miss Madison Marie!  What a whirlwind year it has been - learning to creep, then to crawl, and now mastering those first few steps!  And all the while charming our family with your adorable, Julia Roberts mega-watt smile...

From the moment you entered our world, we loved you heart and soul.  And of course, your resemblance to your daddy didn't go unnoticed...

Michael Ryan
Madison Marie


 Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move mountains...


And who could possibly resist a darling little ginger?!

She leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes...

Your first breath took ours away...



Before you were born...
We dreamed of you, we imagined you,
we prayed for you. Now that you are here,
we hope for you, we love you, and
we thank God for you. 

Happy first birthday, darling girl!

May 24, 2017

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today...




Oh, spring, how you have teased us this year!  A golden day tantalizes us and we all rush outside without sweaters to bask in the sunshine.  A blissful moment of birdsong and heady visions of blooming flowers, only to be replaced the next day with dreary gray skies and chilly weather.  Thank heaven I have been able to enjoy indoor blooms from my geraniums and hibiscus, overwintered in my solarium.



Finally, spring danced back into our lives and my garden slowly began a slow teasing minuet...


Dainty lilac buds undulating in the breeze...


Fragrant hyacinths peeking out from the grass...


and delicate bleeding hearts sending a little love to lift my winter-weary spirits...


Who wouldn't lift a prayer to welcome back this season of re-birth and promise and hope?  I stand with Robert Frost, who suggests in his Prayer that we enjoy these beautiful moments of sunshine and flowers and not look to the uncertain future. Each day is a gift - let us unwrap it and enjoy it as a special present from the Universe!

A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

"A Prayer in Spring" by Robert Frost
from Collected Poems, Prose & Plays.

May 23, 2017






 

Happy birthday, sweet Lily!  May your day be filled with love and hugs and high fives and sweet  kisses from your adoring little sister.

 

 Grandchildren are sunshine to the soul...

 

Something magical happens when parents turn into grandparents...
 
 

Grandmothers are the people who delight in hearing babies breathing into the telephone...

First she was one...
 
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 And then she was two...

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And now she is three, still the sweetest and most loving little girl I have ever known, and trust me, I'm not a bit biased on this subject! We can't wait to celebrate with her at her very special PURPLE  PARTY this weekend.  Grandma just might have a purple present for her!

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Your special flowers are blooming in my garden, Lily, in honor of your special day!