Misty mornings

After all of yesterday's rain, this morning's mist prompted different replies from my husband and me.  I looked out the window and said "ooh, it's an Indiana morning" and at the same time from the kitchen he called out "looks like a Pennsylvania morning outside".  That lovely, almost ethereal morning mist never fails to delight us and remind us of our childhood homes.  My most immediate concern was my poor lilac bushes - they only truly opened on Monday and yesterday's rain was heavy and lasted all day.  They look a little weather beaten but at least the blooms are still on...I was afraid I might have a one-day wonder this spring!

What's not to love about lilacs?  I delight in their beauty, their scent, their willingness to show up year after year and bring spring glory with them, and most of all, in the sweet, sweet memories I have of my father bringing home armfuls of them to my mother each spring.  In a word, they personify love.

We had an amazing celebratory weekend!  Our daughter graduated summa cum laude with her master's degree in Criminal Justice, with an additional certification in Victim Advocacy.  Her ceremony was on Friday night, and we then hosted a reception for family and friends on Saturday afternoon.

We were all so touched at the effort family and friends made to come and celebrate with us - my brother and nephew drove from South Dakota, and many folks drove two or three hours to join us.  We felt so blessed to have so many people want to share in our daughter's happy day!  And if that wasn't enough reason to celebrate, she found out yesterday that the Runaway & Homeless Youth Services team that she has served on for the past two years just won the state's Governor's Service Award!  We are so very proud of this beautiful, smart, capable and caring young woman.

I had fun decorating her reception with sayings that fit her to a "t"!

We followed Saturday's happiness by gathering on Mother's Day to celebrate our son's birthday...

And of course Miss Lily made an appearance...

And I felt incredibly blessed to be surrounded by those I love more than life itself.  

As the happy weekend came to a close, the lyrics of an old familiar hymn were running through my mind:

Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

And along with counting our blessings let's remember that...

A+ for effort...

Spring is trying, it really is.  My neighborhood is starting to "pretty up" quite nicely, although I am growing impatient for my lilacs to really fill out and share their fragrance and beauty with me! But considering a month ago this was the view of my backyard, I feel I have very little to complain about at the moment!

Two weeks ago my lilacs were trying to fill out...

and today I'm giving them an A+ for effort as they continue their blossom journey despite rain, cold, and windy days...you're almost there, lilacs! 

The sunshine this morning illuminated my neighbor's trees and made me rush for my camera.  I love the play of the pink blossoms against the green leaves.  I would have tried for a close-up, but I was in my robe and thought crossing the street might be a tad indecorous!

Don't you love a morning that starts with sunshine??  It certainly lifts my spirits!

And since I've got lilacs on my mind this morning, let's greet the day with this lovely little poem from Robert Burns.  Maybe my cardinals have read this poem as well, since I often see them nestling in among the lilac branches and last year I had not one, but two, nests in  the bushes!  Hopefully the poet is right, and rude winter is finally behind us.  I want to sing on wanton wing as youthful May its bloom renews too!

O were my love yon Lilac fair,  
  Wi’ purple blossoms to the Spring,
And I, a bird to shelter there,  
  When wearied on my little wing!
How I wad mourn when it was torn         
  By Autumn wild, and Winter rude!
But I wad sing on wanton wing,  
  When youthfu’ May its bloom renew’d. 
O gin my love were yon red rose,  
  That grows upon the castle wa’;    
And I myself a drap o’ dew,  
  Into her bonie breast to fa’!
O there, beyond expression blest,  
  I’d feast on beauty a’ the night;
Seal’d on her silk-saft faulds to rest,
  Till fley’d awa by Phoebus’ light!

Have a wonderful day, my friends, and remember...

 
Even though it is overcast and threatening rain this morning, the weekend gave us such a gift with the promise of spring.  Beautiful warm weather, and (finally!) a chance to sit on my back deck and soak up sunshine and bird songs.  While sitting on our deck we also started plotting some rather major changes to our home, and I'll look forward to sharing more of our ideas with you later this spring!

I have, I suppose, a rather unspectacular garden, but every plant and bush was planted with love and most of them were chosen for special memories from my childhood.  After weeks of seeing nothing but drab nothingness in the garden, it was so gratifying to see the lilac buds and leaves getting ready to make our month of May spectacular. The lilacs, with their tiny leaves and buds starting to burst forth, always remind me of my father and how he delighted in bringing my mother literally arms full of the lavender blooms each spring, cut from all the old fashioned lilac bushes growing everywhere in the country.  They were the very first thing I planted when we moved into our house, and now they bring not only delight with their beauty and their scent, they also remind me of the special love my parents had for each other.

The peonies and iris are coming up strong, and to my delight I was able to cut a small bouquet of fragrant hyacinths.  Bliss!

I always loved my mother's peonies, and have four bushes of my own.  Even though the bloom time is rather short, their old fashioned beauty charms me every spring.

My garden fairy is waiting for the day lilies and cone-flowers to bloom, but she will need to wait a little longer.  Patience may be a virtue, but I understand her readiness to embrace the garden's fullness again!

This cheeky little fellow stopped by to supervise my picture taking...

and from the back of the garden the forsythia has decided to embrace the "bloom where you are planted" philosophy.  It's been sulking ever since I moved it from one corner of the garden to the other, but evidently all is forgiven.

I think Emily Dickinson also reveled in this heady and intoxicating arrival of spring, as seen in her poem.  Bring on the experiment of green...we are all so ready for it!!

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!

And while we rejoice in the return of spring, let's all remember that...

Even though spring seems to be playing it coy this year - a bit of a tease - we did catch a few glimpses of her in downtown Pittsburgh.  We waved hello to her but she would pretend not to see us,  and soon the snowflakes would begin again.  

I really liked all the little triangular green spaces tucked away on city blocks.  As we strolled around downtown Pittsburgh, we saw a number of tiny inviting parks.

 

We visited Point State Park, where Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt were located.  The robins and daffodils hinted that one season had arrived, but the wind certainly hadn't received the message yet!

 I love this photo - the juxtaposition of history and the future of the city.

Taken at the entry to the Ft. Pitt blockhouse, looking towards downtown

And fittingly enough, here is a poet by British author Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674) to start our day.  I've only included the first verse, as the second verse is rather dreary!  Let's focus on how lovely the flowers are instead of how fleeting their time with us is...

To Daffodils

Fair Daffodils, we weep to see

         You haste away so soon;

As yet the early-rising sun

         Has not attain'd his noon.

                        Stay, stay,

                Until the hasting day

                        Has run

                But to the even-song;

And, having pray'd together, we

Will go with you along.

 And as always, please have a lovely day and remember...

 

 

there and back again

I feel a bit bedraggled this morning, not unlike how I am sure Bilbo Baggins must have felt as he wearily returned to his snug hobbit hole after all his adventures!  I had a lovely weekend, but it involved racking up some serious car time! Phil and I left home at 3 am (yes, I typed the right time) on Friday morning, Pittsburgh bound.  He must have been reading Tolkien again...We must away, We must away...We ride before the break of day!

"The road goes ever on and on

Out from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road is gone

Let others follow it, who can.

Farewell we call to hearth and hall

though wind may blow and rain may fall

We must away ere break of day,

Far over wood and mountain tall."

His wonderful Aunt Synorita was celebrating her 80th birthday and we wanted to be part of the celebration.  We only had Friday afternoon and Saturday in the city, and headed back home early Sunday morning.  Along the way we encountered family roots and connections, and made more great memories. We also managed to encounter wind, rain, and snow.  Is spring ever going to arrive?

shot from the car with my phone camera somewhere in Ohio...

 A great "blast from the past"...I didn't know Big Boy restaurants were still around!  My family used to stop at one on the way to taking me to college.  One time sitting in the next booth was actor Ken Curtis, who played Festus on Gunsmoke.  I was so excited, as I have fond memories of watching Gunsmoke on Saturday nights, sitting on my grandfather's lap in my nightgown after my getting-ready-for-church bubble bath.

Also in Ohio, taken from the car

It's always been a given with our family road trips that point A is followed by point B.  No deviations off the route for the world's largest ball of twine or world's largest reptile garden, or more frustratingly, for what looked like a really interesting antiques store, ever happened on my husband's watch!  I still remember longingly pressing my face against the car window as he heartlessly drove by a log cabin quilt store in the Smoky Mountains.  Yes, he's definitely a Point A, Point B guy!!  But this trip, to my delight, the rules were bent and a side trip was made to the Ft. Meigs Cemetery in Perrysburg, Ohio.  (It was only three miles off the interstate, but I am giving my husband HUGE kudos for this, hoping to inspire more off the map adventures in the future!!)

 

And what did we find at the cemetery?  My great-great-great-great-grandfather's grave and marker!  Joseph Badger was born in Massachusetts, and served in the Revolutionary War.  He was in the Battle of Bunker Hill, and after the war put himself through Yale Divinity School.  He then became, as the marker states, the first missionary in the Western Ohio reserve, ministering to the early settlers via horseback.  I was thrilled to be able to visit this site and pay my respects.

Then on to the real point B...Pittsburgh!  We stayed downtown and had a wonderful time strolling through the bustling streets.  The weather was lovely.  Okay, maybe not...!!!

But we still had lots of fun  walking around, admiring the sights and sounds of a large city. I loved all the architecture and history...

  

 and listening to Phil reminisce about his adventures when he was a teen.

But of course the highlight of the trip was celebrating with his family, and what a wonderful night it was!!

Phil and the birthday celebrant, Aunt Synorita

Phil and two of his brothers with their mother.  What a great family!

And then it was back in the car for another snowy drive home, with Bilbo's song ringing in my ears...

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say” 

~~JRR Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring

I can't wait to share more Pittsburgh photos with you during the week, but until then, please remember that...

fifty shades of gray...

Please don't get too excited!  I'm not referring to the steamy book or movie by that title, but to the rather overwhelming number of paint choices when trying to pick out new bathroom colors!  After installing a beautiful new shower, I decided to ditch the rather bright "Tuscan sunset" coral shade in my master en suite (I love using this word simply because the juxtaposition of the rather pretentious en suite with the reality of my teeny tiny bathroom makes me chuckle). 

Paint swatches in hand, I set off optimistically for Home Depot, a store I frequent so often I think I'm on a first name basis with most of the staff.  I had decided a very light gray on the walls, with complementary dark gray cabinets, would be a great color combination to replace the coral walls and weird whitish/silvery cabinets.  How hard could it be to find the right colors?  After all, gray is gray, right?

But oh my - so many shades of gray!  Blue, green or purple undertones, metallic grays, flat grays, greeny grays, bluey grays, and some grays that look almost taupe!  And then there was the lighting - what looked great in the store didn't necessarily look right in the room's natural light.  I had chosen a lovely print for the wall, and holding the samples next to the print made me think I almost needed a taupey gray.  But I had already purchased navy blue rugs and towels for a pop of color, and they didn't look as vibrant against the taupe.  Decisions, decisions!

And then, taking a break from painting to attend a concert in Milwaukee,  I discovered that gray was following me everywhere.  The skies were gray.

And the view outside our hotel window was definitely industrial gray!

And while not exactly gray, the interior of the hotel was about as beige-y boring as it gets...

Even the one semi-interesting piece of art was a taupe/gray!

I need a color infusion! In the midst of all this gray-ness, Mary Oliver offers hope for the blandness of life right now.  My bathroom will get finished, and more importantly, the sunshine will soon return (I hope!!) and spring will arrive and unpack her bags and settle in for a nice long visit.   Until all of that actually happens, we need to hold on to the idea of spring and the return of color to the world, like Oliver does in her poem Walking to Indian River.

Walking to Indian River

I'm ready for spring, but it hasn't arrived.

Not yet.

Still I take my walk, looking for any

early enhancments.

It's mostly attitude. I'm certain

I'll see something.

I start down the path, peering in

all directions.

The mangroes, as always, are standing in their

beloved sater,

their new leaves very small and tender

and pale.

And, look! the way the rising sun

strikes them,

they could be flowers

opening!

May your day be filled with unexpected pops of color and joy!  And please remember...