time – Gardens Eye View

On the wind in February

Snowflakes float still,

Half-inclined to turn to rain,

Nipping, dripping, chill.

~Christina Rossetti

These days as winter starts to give way to some semblance of spring days, I think of time. Time marching on…the clock ticking. The sun shines, the earth thaws and warms and I think finally it is time….spring is here early. I can finally see new growth, early flowers from bulbs beneath the earth. Then suddenly the wind blows cold, the snow flies and piles up on the earth once more. Time seems to stand still once again. And I wait patiently for the cycle to happen all over again.

That has been my winter. The wishing , the hoping for a miracle yet knowing with every cold snowy day, the miracle will not happen. The pond has been thick with ice. Sometimes it is translucent, other times it is opaque. Some days it looks as though it is thawing and will release the life trapped below it. And while I sit and watch time march on thinking my garden is standing still refusing to yield, I find it is doing no such thing.

Beneath the cold frozen earth, life still stirs. And with each unusually warm day, it has fast forwarded time to today. My first crocus has bloomed. A full 3 weeks before it has most years. Bulbs are quickly pushing up refusing to believe that there will be anything to impede its time to shine, to bloom. Yet I know this weekend we will have snow again, we will have cold winds and the bulbs who bravely refuse to let time stand still will succumb to an early demise. But no matter they move bravely on to their destiny.

And so it goes as in life nothing can slow the clock and stop time from pushing in whether we want it to or not. I try not to wish days to hurry by since I do not know how many days I may still have on this earth. But when we want something to happen so badly, we tend to wish time to speed forward. I still struggle with living each day fully, in the moment. It seems foreign to me with my To Do lists. Marking time by weekends, accomplishments, holidays and seasons. But there is something in me that is strong these days telling me to try and slow time, try to savor it. I am trying to yield to this sense of time now marked by the sunrise and sunset that I cherish each day.

Do you remember the days when you wished upon a falling star or the first star of the evening? How about wishes with birthday candles or born on the wind with dandelion seeds scattered with a soft whisper? Have you ever thrown a coin into a fountain with a wish from your lips to the watery depths below? I think about these days of wishes. Of cares thrown to the wind, when time was the furthest thing from my mind. Just a girlish wish not desperate, but instead innocence, magic.

They say that when we wish for something we are actually opening ourselves to receive it. I believe that. I have been wishing for an early spring and perhaps it is here. But my mother always warned me about wishes, “Be careful what you wish for.” And how true it seems. Are we ever satisfied with what we have. If spring comes early, then the work begins early. Maybe a good thing, maybe my back and shoulder would not agree. Oh well I will take what each day brings me. I will try to fully embrace it good or bad. After all I still have time.

I want to thank Donna@Garden Walk, Garden Talk for her monthly meme Word 4 Wednesday. It is a wonderful meme built around a word. This months word has been time. It seems appropriate in so many ways. Helen@The Patient Gardener has her End of Month Review, Bumble Lush has the meme Best and Worst and Veg Plotting has The 52 Week Salad Challenge. They ask us to mark time in our gardens monthly. If you love crocus, join Stacy@Microcosm for her Thirteen (or Fewer) Ways of Looking at a Crocus (or Some Equivalent) Challenge. Most Fridays I also flaunt my flower blooms with Tootsie for her Fertilizer Friday (her badge is on my sidebar).

So what is going on? Well you can see above snowdrops and snow crocus are braving the cold. The pond is melting. I consider these the Best. Below the meadow is still sleeping.

Then there is all the wet, soggy, spongy vegetation that needs trimming and cutting back. It won’t take too long but it is too wet to even consider starting this chore-the Worst.

And the salad. Well that is going strong with the herbs in the basement. There really is nothing like fresh greens and herbs you grow yourself.

We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten. ~Cesare Pavese

: first crocus 2/23/12

_______________________________________________________________

Special Big Announcement

As promised, I am launching a new meme called Seasonal Celebrations. I really wanted to have a way to mark the changing of each season around the world, and learn how everyone celebrates this change of seasons. Do you have a special plant you look forward to seeing; is there a special holiday or regional celebration; what is your dream for the upcoming season?

Beth@PlantPostings and I have been working on collaborating on our seasonal memes. If you didn’t know, Beth has a wonderful meme every season called Lessons Learned. We thought we would join together each season and promote our own meme as well as each others. Beth and I will post on March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1 calling for Seasonal Celebrations and Lessons Learned. You can join in to both with one post or post separately to each meme or only join in to one of the memes. Then on the the equinox or solstice we will do a summary post of the Celebrations and Lessons on our respective blogs. We’ll keep the posts archived on our blogs.

So I hope you join us this Thursday, March 1st, as you think about how you celebrate the seasons and what lessons you have learned as this season comes to a close.

_______________________________________________________________

Next up on the blog: Gardens Eye Verse is the first Monday in March and I will be joining in to several memes around this time. I will have the last 2 color posts in March in time for GBBD, yellow, and Wildflower Wednesday, green. Of course I will highlight another favorite native plant in March as part of my Simply The Best series with Diana@ Elephant’s Eye. And don’t forget to join Beth@PlantPostings for Lessons Learned and me for Seasonal Celebrations.

Please join me for my weekly posts, every Tuesday, at Beautiful Wildlife Garden. Currently I am highlighting my favorite wildflowers.

Please remember, to comment click on the title of the post and the page will reload with the comments section.