Sunday, March 22, 2015

Winter's Over!

Beautiful Spring

The beautiful spring came; and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.
Harriet Ann Jacobs

Spring is here with its blossoms and rain. Jonquils, narcissus, red-bud, forsythia, Bradford pears, and oaks are all showing off their blooms. Lambs ear and day lilies are poking their heads through the mulch in my messy garden. My front yard could be cultivated for tiny bald onions, which, by the way, are edible. One can't help being caught up in the riot of bird song, gutter drumming, and shear exuberance of the mating season.

We humans get a little spring in our giddy-up, too. We begin to plan and execute, dig and weed and plant. Just the sight of any color other than gray gets our juices jumping. The sap rising up the trees matches the blood rising in our own trunks. My friend, Isie, is happily flinging dirt around and, single-handed, keeps Lowe's afloat. Cousin, Sandy is burying bulbs, and spreading mulch—her first spring in her new home. I am spraying old pots with new paint in preparation for the herb garden they will hold. It feels good to be done with winter.

I will never experience spring without thinking of my grandmother, Mama. I can see her in my hind sight, in her petal-pushers and straw hat, plotting out her garden in Jefferson City, Tennessee. “Never plant before Good Friday,” she'd warn, “but then give it all you've got.” The abundance of her green spirit inspires me to this day. Perhaps, one of the best blessings of this season comes from all the memories it brings us—of every promising, hopeful spring we have lived, and the people who shared them with us.

                                                             In the Spirit,

                                                                   Jane

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