There was a day last week when I was standing in the upstairs hallway and I felt that familiar tap on my shoulder. The tap that says, “Stop. Take a deep breath and relax your shoulders. Exhale. Notice.
I looked into our bedroom and through the window and noticed that the line of “greening up” had finally crept all the way up the hills across the valley. The browns and grays of the late winter landscape have exploded into the quintessential Crayola spring green. Farmers have already done their first cutting of hay. The blossoming sequence of serviceberries/crabapples/lilacs is underway in our neighborhood. The woods are full of lovely old heirloom apple trees, long abandoned, but adding a splash of pink and white anyhow.
A huge wind blew up a few days ago and the apple blossoms flew off the trees. Petal confetti scattered on the lawn. I ran out with clippers to gather a bunch of lilacs to bring into the house.
Their scent has filled the house for days. I often stop intentionally, bend over and stick my nose into the bouquet to inhale their magic. They bloom for such a very short time and that makes them all the more precious.
Feeling the inevitable rush of May beauty, I pulled out my small collection of books by Gunilla Norris, and spent a bit of time reading them as I sipped a cup of tea. Gunilla’s words are gentle and reassuring. She calls her work household spirituality. :-)
On Saturday, the Montpelier farmer’s market was filled with abundance. Fresh lettuces and spinach, bunches of tatsoi that were pretty enough to use for a bridal bouquet, hand crafted cheeses brought up from cellars, loaves of bread made with local grains, milled in Vermont. Each week we go to the market, we are reminded of the progression of seasonal foods and of how the summer growing cycle pulls us through to the fall. We try to savor.
This sweet flower, above, was one I bought at the market last summer and it came back quite nicely, holding its own in the wind here on the ridge.
Crows do, indeed. like shiny objects…
I’m resurrecting an old project, and the freshly cleaned three season porch accommodates afternoon stitching and audiobooks.
A bowl for thread trimmings, two leather thimbles, basting pins, pearl cotton, Hera marker, scissors and my crow friend.
This was a block of the month sampler quilt I worked on in 2019 via the Vermont Modern Quilt Guild using “Summer Sampler 2018”. I finished the quilt top and then “put it away somewhere”. I now have a giftee in mind. It is a throw size, and so I am hand quilting it, using the “big stitch” quilting method. I’m using instructions I found here, and I am loving the process of slow stitching. The pearl cotton gives the stitches a nice sheen. I like to use a Hera marker to guide my thread.
Dearest readers, I do hope you are able to find similar spots of calm and peace these days. There is much to savor and notice and celebrate if we only stop to see it. And in that seeing, we can refresh ourselves. We can persevere. We can shine our lights for others who may need it.
What are you noticing this May?
xoxoxox