Spring is coming!! I know this because the snowdrops are blooming, the violets are blooming, the crocus are blooming, and the daffodils are getting close. Last night I had a dream with daffodils as tall as sunflowers, which was weird but cool. Oh, let us not forget the rain, of course, with its attendant slugs and earthworms which the cat brings in on his fur. Delightful.
Tuesday was raining and snowy, but I really wanted to get outside because I was going to lose my freaking mind if I didn't. (this mind-losing seems to be a recurrent theme. perhaps I need a safety deposit box and then I won't have to worry with it any longer.) I was irritated by the relentless rain, but decided to take my camera because the camera sometimes helps. It totally worked! By the time I got back (soaked but somewhat exhilarated -- probably hypothermia) I was cracking myself up (again, probably hypothermia) with the thought that there was none more wet than me at that moment. (Spinal Tap was on my mind because I had been listening to the White Stripes, and the song Expecting always makes me think of Spinal Tap's Big Bottom (sorry, Jack White) -- there's just a certain ponderous quality that I can't quite put my finger on -- they don't really sound that much alike, but there is some connection in my head. It always makes me laugh so I guess I'm not really very sorry after all.)
The trees are getting that red haze that they get before they start blooming. Some of the early cherries and plums have already begun to bloom, but most trees (that are not evergreen) are just starting to get that LOOK. One day they were the same old dead sticks I've been looking at all winter, and then suddenly the world turns upside down (or on its axis, if you want to be all pedantic about it) and they're glowing red like they've been in the fire. It's all so beautiful in simultaneously subtle and obvious ways. The world is waking up again, which is a good reminder for me (I need lots of freaking reminders, okay?!) to take pleasure in the small things and to try to appreciate the beauty of RIGHT NOW instead of remembering or fantasizing about the beauty of some past or future moment. (The camellias are starting to bloom which makes it easier.)
I had this obvious but necessary "a-ha!" moment even before I read my Free Will Astrology horoscope (he writes the best ones) for this week, which said, in part: "On the one hand, they [cancerians] idealize the past, imagining it to be better or happier than the present time. On the other hand, they ache for an idealized future that will be better or happier than today. Does that describe you? If so, this your wake-up call. Right here and right now is where all the interesting stuff is happening. " Right Here and Right Now often seems boring and stressful, but I'm intrigued by the notion that I'm just approaching it from the wrong angle. If it IS where all the interesting stuff is happening, I don't want to miss out!
(I promise less weather-related navel-gazing and more other stuff SOON.)
Gol, I just keep watching those buds on my daffydills--I am so eager. Love your post--it gives me hope and suggestions for rousing
ReplyDeletemyself out of the doldrums.
Of your photos, my faves are "Clear as Mud" and "Natural Landscape." Can't tell you why.
ReplyDeleteLiving in the "here and now" has always been problematic for me, but this year I have been trying to just let things be and not put pressure on the future because I have no say so in how that is going to look. It's all so random and weird but I do think this year might just be totally tubular.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked the post and the pictures, Patty. The mud puddles are even MORE robust now, if you can believe it, which I know you can since you're just across town and I'm sure it's still raining there, too. Sun by this weekend they say, to which I say "Ha!"
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean, BBD. I have certainly had my periods of Doubt and Frustration, but I remain weirdly optimistic. It is no doubt some sort of animal-brain survival mechanism.