birthing

spring!  no, winter.  wait - spring!  nope, still winter.

these posts must begin to feel like riding a see-saw (which is going to be one of those things i reminisce about with my grandchildren, like dialing a rotary phone, placing a needle on a record, or looking things up in an encyclopedia).  have they made all the playgrounds in your town safe, like they have ours?  the swings are short, the slides are non-skid plastic, and there is absolutely no equipment that will spin you, catapult you, or otherwise potentially threaten your life.  oh, giddy terror of the playground, you are but a faint memory.

but i digress.

it looks like it's spring (again) around here....

the earth is birthing!

purple hosta budding from the ground

sedum renewal (amongst the periwinkle)

rosy peony shoots (oh, joy!)

so, those are some of the plants that spend the spring turning green and the summer making flowers.  by far, of the lot, my favorite are the peonies.  the heady, lemon scent that fills our house in the early summer is up there with lilacs and gardenias for me.  it is swoon-worthy.

i'm worried about the (shhhh!)....snow....(shhhh!) coming on Tuesday.  because there are a couple plants in the yard just about to burst out in flowers.  so i've captured them on film (wait.  that's another thing i'll have to reminisce about.).

flowering almond

forsythia, of course

this next one's not ours.  it is peeking over the fence from our neighbor's yard, and i am very happy to oblige its visit.  in exchange for a bloom or two, i do believe.  i think it was pushed over a bit during the recent ice storm, and our neighbor has not staked it.  i am guessing it will stay a fence-line visitor for the remainder of its sweet-scented life.  which is absolutely fine. (don't the buds look like little bunches of grapes?)

a visiting lilac

and, of course, the daffodils.  which i am continuously saving this spring (though, i suppose, that is not entirely true - as i 'save' them by cutting them and bringing them inside. which is more like decapitation.) from the ice, the snow, and the freezing rain.  (i did that, again, today....shhhh!)  our daffodil numbers are dwindling (i think the bulbs go deeper each year & you are supposed to dig them up and re-plant them closer to the surface), but the variety is still lovely.  tall, short; plump, skinny; bright, pale; ruffled, smooth.

xxx sealed with a kiss xxx

the earlier-blooming camellias have been battered this month.  the evidence is in the frayed edges of the petals, which are still mostly enclosed in buds.  but they are protected enough that i think they'll survive one more.  not sure i will...but they're probably fine.

these are the strangest little flowering bushes, along the east side of our back porch.  they stand side-by-side, two variations of the same.  i prefer the darker one with the fuschia stems and pink tint to the flowers over the lighter one with a more yellow cast to leaves and flowers.  when they are both in bloom, the scent (which borders on stench) is a bee-beacon, i think, for the entire neighborhood.  my bizarre story for these is that (cover your ears if you are squeamish), when i was dissecting a cat (sorry!) in my anatomy class, i had the inspiration (you had to be there, i guess) to bring in some flowers for our lab table.  these were the ones that were blooming at the time.

pieris japnoica (or Japanese andromeda)

 

so, spring is about birthing.  my go-to birthing book was Spiritual Midwifery.  stop now and exit this post if you would be embarrassed to look me in the face after knowing anything about this.  this post can just be about flowers for you.

i was hard-headed about having a spontaneous & non-medicated labor for myself and for my babies. i am lucky that worked out for me.  lucky i had short labors & no complications.  lucky to find wonderful midwives who deliver in the hospital of my town.  lucky to have healthy babies.  but, boy (twice), was i determined.  it is the most possessed, no-going-back, astonishingly physical (why should that be a surprise?) experience.  there's no choice but to birth.  and, then, suddenly (or, sometimes, not so suddenly), there's a baby.  who was already there but not quite (nothing can prepare you for the sensation of a baby squirming around under your belly button when you are eight months pregnant.  it is very much there.).  from warm water to cool air.  it is most amazing, birth.

happy spring.