Beltane

It's the eve of May Day and the night for the ancient Celtic celebration of Beltane (bright fire) Its origins in the distant past have to do with the start of summer breeding and crop-growing and it marks the cross-quarter point between the vernal equinox and summer solstice. It was an occasion for bon fires and a time when the veil between worlds was thought to be especially thin.
There'll be no bon fires around here tonight. In fact, we're expecting a frost for this last night of April - hopefully the last one of the season.
There may be a lot of celebrating around here anyway, especially if the Red Sox pull off a win like they did last night 1-0 bottom of the 9th! But what I've been celebrating today is the COLORS! Where the world was full of naked brown tree trunks a week ago and only a few flowers had poked their heads above ground, today all freshly washed after two days of rain, the trees are brilliant with their incredibly diverse collection of different pinks, purples, whites, yellows, reds and greens. It is such a delight to witness the birth of leaves & I am glad to celebrate the beginning of Deep Spring!

Above the Clouds

I guess this is what it looks like if you're above today. Down here inside today it is wet and glittering. All the new leaves on trees, even the remaining visible trunks and branches are deep dark in their wetness. The earth is so happy to be receiving the moisture that it is gleaming, the dirt itself is shiny. Everything is aglow as it absorbs the much needed moisture. It makes the amazing new collection of brilliant colors, that just suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, positively stunning. Thank you God for the Rain!

April and all of a sudden the world is green, pink, white, purple, yellow. Trees, bushes, bulbs, everywhere - and overnight every tree has leaves. It's so wonderful and mysterious. All the naked trees that cast their graceful trunk & branch shadows across the ground a week ago are blocking out the street lights and background with their bouquets of leaves. Some of them are still very tiny leaves, but there are so many of them it's brilliant. They are still very pale yellow-green and inside branches can still be seen, but - wait another week!

Faces

I love this picture. Papa so proud of his beautiful baby girl who looks pretty worried about something.
It reminds me how differently we all see the world we're living in. I went for a ride with my sister once when we were in our 30's. We drove back through old neighborhoods past childhood residences and told each other stories we were certain the other remembered.
The only memory we shared was the day we all came home dirty from school and our "wicked step mother" had the four of us down on our hands and knees on the kitchen floor, scrubbing. What a punishment that was. Three of the four of us consider it one of our fondest memories. We had a ball!

Lawn again

It's so cool to have lawn again. Last month's field of white turned into a sopping wet mud lake and now, it's green again. Joy and I sat out on the grass yesterday, she had rolled in the dirt and was completely filthy (and totally happy) while she rolled back and forth in the fresh grass and allowed me to rub the dirt out of her fur. I laid down with her with the sun on my face and feeling the cool breeze, the purring cat and the cool of the lawn beneath my feet, I smelled the fresh smell of spring earth and purrrrred. When I looked at the calendar last night it said it was Earth Day. Well, it sure was for Joy and me!

Chocolate

It wasn't valentine's day or anything, but for some strange reason he decided to bring me chocolate today. He picked up the little foil-wrapped earth globes that I used to eat all the time, since they had no milk in them. Then on the way home he stopped at Atkins and picked up a couple of dark chocolate truffles. He said his didn't last 'til he got over the hill. After resisting the whole idea of eating sugar-anything, until I felt my afternoon lag in energy.... I indulged in a choco-thon. My truffle lasted almost a half hour, if you consider the consumption time. Yes, Mother, I definitely played with my "food." The thing about how long it seemed to last is, it is almost 9pm and I'm still stoned from it. I hope I'll come down off it soon and be able to sleep tonight!

April Flowers

Here they come! Popping up out of the ground that's just changed from white to brown to green all around. Here come the colors. Trees that will have leaves on them in a couple of days are all red on top, but for the willows draping yellow buds in giant arches. Now the forsythia is spreading wild yellow fingers over fences and daffodills stand tall over the crocus family. The tulips have not taken their stand yet, but they're getting ready. Thank you God for Spring - it is soooo lovely!

Finally, a hot day! No, not a go-to-the-beach day, but a roll down the windows-park in the shade kind of day. Not that there's much shade since all the trees are still naked. It's nice to see them all budding out and surprising to see how many of those buds are red when you know the leaves will be green... eventually. Actually, that will be any minute now - I'll wake up one of these mornings and there will suddenly be leaves on the trees. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the go-to-the-beach days, too!

Impatience

I think I know why they are so expensive, now. I've started impatience in my greenhouse twice now and used up six packages of seeds to get the 6 impatience sprouts that are still alive in there. I'm wondering if any of them will actually survive to make a transplant into the garden. This is my second year "growing my own" and although there are plenty of other seedlings growing up tall and skinny under the hothouse lights in there, it looks very much like I'll be purchasing my impatience at the store.

Office Help

Since the Joy cat's been outside the whole of this 65 degree afternoon and history indicates that after she comes inside and has her dinner, she'll be out again all night when the low gets so close to 40, I know this is a winter cat picture, this spoiled bored fuzface standing guard in the forbidden corner of the desk, glaring at the computer and the person running it - who bears the burden of guilt for allowing nights to get so cold in the winter time.

First Forsythia

April 15th and the first strands of yellow appeared today. Some people have trimmed theirs but the very best of the forsythia are the ones grown wild like this, reaching over fences, crawling across the newness of the greening grass. There have been crocus for almost a week now and the first daffodills are standing up tall and declaring their presence and the beginning of the real Spring season.

Breaking Ground

The Bleeding Hearts broke ground today, barely showing their pointed heads in deep burgundy hues, the clump of sprouts sticking out of wet brown earth does not even hint at the beauty that will be there in another month. Fortunately, I have record of previous blossoms.

Spring Day

Today's a day to think about walking the beach at sunset, barefoot in wet sand. Today was an open-the-windows/strip down to short-sleeved shirt kind of day! Thank You God! Today was spring Spring! Still a good breeze- cool and friendly, but cars getting baking hot if the windows are closed. It was a feeling day, the air so soft caressing bare skin, smelling lovely in contrast hot sun and cool breeze simultaneously. Today the first white crocus opened its pedals beside my front steps, taking a head start on all the other green pointy things sticking out of the rich brown earth. Today's a day, alright!

Sunspots

Late in the afternoon this time of year it actually gets too hot in some of the sunspots for my girls. The morning sunspots are still coveted and as the day goes by, they move from spot to spot, window to window absorbing all warmth, and leaving little trails of fur wherever they have been. Obviously this one leaves a greater supply of fuzz on the carpets, but with the warmer weather, her skinny little sister still manages to do her part.

Is it Spring yet?

The weather was lovely today, sunny and bright, with a definite chill in the wind, which was pretty steady. It made it comfortable to sit in the car to wait, which will be way too hot before we know it. The bears aren't all that interested in gardening this year, but the other two fuzzy people in this house are absolutely looking forward to warm nights and hot days, sleeping outside under brush, and coming into the house to visit us (and eat) once or twice a day. Oh, the life of spoiled catness!

Smiling Balloon

Here's a memory of summer days, early rising and pre-dawn activity. The Hot Air Balloon festivals that circulate around this territory from summer through fall. This was the evening ride and the preparations took much of the afternoon and continued full tilt 'til sunset even though nobody could be sure the balloons would go up at all. Just before dusk the small latex trial balloon was let go and it's every action taken into account by the people on the ground. When it was clear that the wind wasn't too strong, the preparations were completed and the fairgrounds were decorated by dozens of bright colored balloons like giant Christmas tree ornaments stuck to the darkening sky. I was glad I got this picture while the balloons were still inflating, or else I'd have to be up above it to see the happy face.

Rainy Day

The girls are not too pleased with this rainy weather, and take no comfort from my declaration that it's a sign of spring, proof winter's over. They care not for spring or winter, summer is what they are after. Here's my furface Princess cat taking it out on the Ginger Bear. They tell me this is called "nursing" but it looks like bear abuse to me!

Colorful Sunsets

I wonder if sunsets actually get more glorious in the warmer months, or if we're simply out there more and able to see them. The wind's been blowing rambunctiously this whole day and it doesn't seem to have settled down even now. However, the world is pink, trees, clouds, flag poles, everything is slightly tinted with the glow of sunset lighting. I love this color, adore how the whole world changes hues, find it simply amazing!

Patience

I realize that it helped immeasurably that the night had been warm so the time spent waiting was only chilly. Still, it seemed a long time for the pitch dark beach to go through all the stages of lighter until, at last, the sun jumped out of the ocean and lit up the horizon in brilliant glory. My friend and I waited through the color changes, listening to the pounding surf and hoping for some decorative clouds to dress up the scene. In the end we settled for the sun itself and the seagulls who did their sunrise dance in the lights and the reflections. It required patience, but it was well worth it.