Look What's Sprouted Up

So much time has passed since my last post, and so much change has occurred.  As a life well lived, I'm inclined to think.

My garden has suffered a good deal of neglect of late.  But I feel like I'm turning a corner and have some spirit (and hopefully time) to return.

You see, the last nine months I've been busy nurturing the most special kind of life.

Now how 'bout that??!!??

Well, it's been a wonderful journey and the future is chock full of the promise of growth...it is happening before my very eyes.  I'm spending more days than not in amazement on how quickly life changes.  Our wee sprout took her first (assisted) steps yesterday.  I spent the better part of the evening trying to burn that moment into my memory.  It was beautiful.  She was so proud.  Someone just nine months old feeling pride.  That is something to remember.

I managed to get some huckleberry shrubs planted out front.  It took me a few separate trips out to get the job done -- M sucked on a rock (really)

while I got some of the prep work out of the way and then after she sailed off to dreamland I took advantage of daylight saving's time offering of an extra hour of daylight at night and got four huckleberry shrubs planted along the front of the house.

It took some doing and my back is TRES grumpy at present.  (When I've finished this it is off for a stretch session go I.)

But I am happy.  I feel like some momentum is building...it has been for some time but now things are really happening.  It's going to take a whole lot more doing but it feels good to be outside again with my hands in the dirt.  And M seems to like it pretty fine too.  Which makes me smile.  I hope to spend more time with M, up to our elbows in the dirt.

P.S. Speaking of growing...

M learned the word 'stretch' today.  She has a book of words that includes a picture of a little girl with her hands stretched up over her head and the word 'stretch' written below.  When I read the words in the book I try to include visuals (other than pointing at the picture) where I can.  When I read that word, I rest the book against me and stretch my arms up overhead.  Now when we turn to that page, M raises her hands up over her head.  If I say 'stretch', wee bean raises her arms to the heavens.

WHAT A BRIGHT LITTLE LIGHT!!!

White Rabbit: I'm Late! I'm Late! I'm Late!

Ho boy.

I really will need to get hustlin' after this brief post.

Maya and I walked this morning...in the rain...again...

(I'm sure I've mentioned it before...it just will.not.stop.raining.)

*sigh*

Maya wasn't exactly in the most cooperative of spirits this morning and was feeling mighty motivated to SEEK OUT AND DESTROY ALL SQUIRRELS.  So the walk was shorter than ususal.  Subsequently, I was feeling like I had (all the time in the world) more time than usual this morning when we returned to house.  Upon entering the back yard time slowed to a standstill as I gazed about my overgrown and ever-so-soaked garden.

My eyes trained first on the peas...

then downwards to the strawberries...

The gravitational pull was too much and soon I was up to my elbows in lovely leaves a plenty.

I pulled out quite a catch and, like a giddy little girl, I ran into the house with my handful to wash.  It was so pretty I had to take a photo (or two...dozen) before gobbling them all down.  (And they were DELICIOUS.  Those strawberries are the sweetest I've ever eaten.  I sincerely wish I knew what kind they were.)

As I glance at the clock now I realize that those feelings of time slowing down were just that -- FEELINGS.  Time has been ticking away all the while and now it is *time* for me to make a mad dash to get ready for the day.

Work awaits! 

And I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!

Lupine, So Fine

Lupin or Lupine

family: Fabaceae

genus: Lupinus

ha! 

kin to fava! 

remember?

Fava is in the Fabaceae family too!

I *love* it! 

(And don't know why!!!)

So on Saturday, after a rich and WONDERFUL brunch at splendid Country Cat (me-ow!), me and one of my bestest pals, Elizabeth, took Maya for a walk out at 1,000 acres.  As we walked along its many trails, laughing and talking and exploring, in a moment of pure splendor, up popped this beauty ahead on the path:

I cooed over it and wondered what it was.  A lovely gentleman happened to pass by at that moment and told us that this beaut was lupine.  Deeeevine.

Gotta get me some of that!

I didn't have my camera with me at the time but two days later Maya and I went back to walk among the tall, wet grass and THIS time my camera was in tow. 

Maya in (and likely eating) the tall, wet grass

I did some lookin' online and among the books in my wee library:

• 
  
  most are perennials, though a few are annuals
• 
  
  they are nitrogen fixers
• 
  
  The name 'Lupin' derives from the Latin word 'lupinus' (meaning wolf) -- as, back in the day, many found that the plant has a tendency to ravage the land and the peas that appear from those loverly flowers were said to be fit only for the consumption of wolves.

Hm.  I do love this plant - but I've taken this last point to heart.  When I find a plant to bring into my space I ought to keep a close watch on it, lest it take over.

I think I could handle that: keeping close watch on it. 

It's beautiful!

Explode Into Chamomile

I've been spending the last hour or so pouring over photos...

...while the rain pours relentlessly outside...

...music pouring through the speakers

as I sort

gleefully

through images of chamomile...

So let the rain continue (and oh, how it continues)

I've got music streaming through the speakers and memories of sunshine past to occupy me.

for now, anyway

...and it's good fun!

inspiration for today's blog title:

Explode Into Colors

(a marvy local band)
"Paper" *will* make you get up and dance!!!

The Little Prince

How many of us *haven't* read The Little Prince? 

Those of you raising your hands, well, you're missing something and should visit the library to read a copy soon.  You'll be richer for it.  Promise.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (author of said book) was a writer and aviator. (He was one of the pioneering pilots of the international postal flights -cool, eh?)  He once crashed while flying over the Sahara and was stranded for four days -- he and his copilot were rescued by a Beduin on camel.  The dehydration-induced hallucinations he experienced helped shape The Little Prince. (It also explains why the book starts with a pilot alone in a desert - until today I'd had no idea that beginning stemmed from his own experience!)  His own story is a tale in and of itself and I could go on and on about it but will stop myself here to get back to my point.

On the Max ride home from work I was reading an article about the photographer Robert Frank and Frank had quoted a line from The Little Prince:

"It is only with the heart that one can see right; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

I love that book. 

I love that quote! 

So as soon as I got home I went digging around for my copy of The Little Prince and flipped through it a bit as I sat on my back deck, in a rare and kismit-ee moment of sunshine. (Words cannot describe just how much it has rained these last few weeks, but a few that come close are: downpour, drenching, buckets, endless).

Fuzzy bees bumbled lazily in the chamomile.  The sun shown on the peas.  Droplets of rain from a downpour just passed fell from fava blooms onto the pansies below. 

In that moment I came across another line that just washed over me, much like the sun on my shoulders: 

"It is the time you have spent with your rose that makes your rose so important."

Hm.

This garden is a rose. 

My rose!

Bing! Beets are up!

Well those seeds are finally sprouting and first on the scene: beets!

Now I'll have to face the difficult task of thinning ...hmm...

Which among these sprouts will be the ones to take it to the finish?

Definitely - this has to be my least favorite part of gardening...pulling up wee sproutlets.

Part of me reeeealllly wants them to all have a chance -

duke it out!

may the best seed win! 

wait!

you're *ALL* winners!!!

*sigh*

But one of my favorite parts of gardening?  Chowing down on its bounty!

It's a comin!!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!