It’s been a day of
Sweet Magnolias
and turtles on a log.
I spent the morning at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. And despite the strong winds that were blowing I managed to make a lot of photographs of the magnolia trees in bloom (that weren’t totally blurry from the wind). It took patience, a camera with image stabilization, and a fast shutter speed. The scent of the magnolias was wonderful!
At home in my backyard the log at the edge of the pond has been filling up with painted turtles and ducks. The turtles like to warm themselves in the sun. And the ducks like to sit on the log and preen themselves. With the trees still not leafed out I can see the activity in and around the pond quite well.
It is endlessly entertaining to watch the wildlife that spends time in and around the pond.
At the Arboretum this morning, most of the trees still stood tall and bare against the sky. Some of the bushes are leafing out, the magnolia trees are in bloom, a few early tulips, lots of daffodils, and a few wildflowers are also in bloom. The landscape still looks pretty stark and dark when you gaze from a distance. But when I stopped and looked closely I could see life emerging everywhere.
I see that the life of this place is always emerging beyond expectation or prediction or typicality, that it is unique, given to the world minute by minute, only once, never to be repeated. And this is when I see that this life is a miracle, absolutely worth having, absolutely worth saving. We are alive within mystery, by miracle.”
― Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition
My spirits have lifted with the warm temperatures that are finally arriving. I got out my hummingbird feeder yesterday, filled it and hung it in front of the kitchen window. In normal years the hummingbirds arrive in April. But this year, I have no idea when they will arrive.
I haven’t yet planted my container gardens for the summer. It’s just been too cold to think about planting seeds. Soon I will get busy and plant lettuce and sugar snap peas. My herb seedlings are not growing nearly as well indoors this year as they did last year. Perhaps that is a good thing since they are not out-growing their pots and there is still time before I plan to plant them outside.
Odd as I am sure it will appear to some, I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the environment than that of gardening. A person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which makes him somewhat independent of the grocery business, but he is also enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating.”
― The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays
Are you also enjoying the sunshine and warmth this week? Do you also love the season of sweet magnolias in bloom?
May you walk in beauty.
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