Spring Quiet

Finally, on Sunday, 3 weeks into spring,  we had an actual spring day.   

We spent time in the garden, splashing in the water, and admiring the blossoms on the pear trees and the Japanese maples which are slowly coming into leaf.   We have planted a dogwood to replace a tree which was not thriving, and we pulled out our previously happy grapefruit tree which just dropped dead, as only trees can, a couple of weeks ago. 

I don't know about you, but I feel that this  has been a winter too long.  And I don't even like the hot weather but this year, I am really ready for it.  And I am so ready for spring and all that  entails: peas, lamb, beans, silky green things, lots of linen, salads and outdoor spaces which will help me shelter 'most shadily'.

(cover of the September 2010 edition of my favourite food magazine, New Zealand Cuisine.  You may feel the lamb butterfly is a bit too much but I love it)

Gone were but the Winter,

Come were but the Spring,

I would go to a covert

Where the birds sing.

 (Imogen riding her too small bike - she is too frightened of her 'big bike')

Where in the whitethom

Singeth a thrush,

And a robin sings

In the holly-bush.

(my out of control parsley - what can I do with it?  Parsley soup? Tabbouleh?)

Full of fresh scents

Are the budding boughs

Arching high over

A cool green house:

(my summer aim - create a cool outdoor space) 

Full of sweet scents,

And whispering air

Which sayeth softly:

'We spread no snare;

(another planned project - a gallery wall, no matter how ubiquitous they are, I love them done well)

'Here dwell in safety,

Here dwell alone,

With a clear stream

And a mossy stone.

(and a final project - to get around to doing some big pots of lavender and rosemary)

'Here the sun shineth

Most shadily;

Here is heard an echo

Of the far sea,

Though far off it be.

by Christina Rossetti (1847)

(a pear tree in blossom)

(Images (1)(2)(3)(7) Jane (4)(5)(6) Skona Hem)