Spring song

"Nothing is so beautiful as spring -
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush..."



My favorite season is spring. One of my favorite poets is Gerard Manley Hopkins. These lines were running through my head while out for a walk through a field yesterday.

Saturday fun

We had all the kids to play with today. Since it was such a nice day, we decided to go to the playground. Our snow is all gone and it never occurred to us that there would be so much there. It's just a few blocks away.

Charlie had his trusty little shovel and tried to clear it all away for us. He changed his mind in favor of the swings when the job proved too big.

Becky tried the teeter-totter and enjoyed the up part. Everyone had a swing, including Katie. She opted for a nap pretty quickly, though, and left the rest of us to enjoy the swings. Unlike her, we didn't have cozy fleece around us and it got cold even while we were having so much fun. So back home for hot chocolate and stories for us.

We left the mother and son who came to the park to practice their softball game. The bases were marked out in the snowfield and they took turns being the pitcher and batter. Running around the bases must have warmed them up because coats had been shed. Son was soon playing in a short-sleeved T-shirt. We really can't wait for spring.

Clam shells

For those who were wondering what a curvaceous square would be...here it is. The clam shell is one of my favorite quilt patterns. I've used it in small mats and tea cosies several times. I could explain my liking by saying it connects me to both coasts of Canada. But I think it's really because it is curvy. And I can put almost any color combination in and it looks good. Sometimes, I outline the shells but this time I wanted the greens to blend like a spring wood.

I started the color search with a beautiful piece of green wool. Nothing I had on the shelves matched, of course, and so I overdyed some tweeds to get a similar green. I just made up the dye formula and it worked pretty well, I think. I used a very small herringbone in gray/white, a tiny houndstooth check in black/white and a cream/grey/gold tweed. I decided that I needed five fabrics and chose a grey/green sweater wool which balanced not only color but also texture.

This is number 3 for the swap - just in case anyone's counting.

Winter garden

This was how the Beauty berry looked yesterday morning. And then, it was gone in the fine mist of rain. The snow, I mean not the shrub. I noticed this morning that there are fat green buds on the forsythia. Now that doesn't necessarily mean spring will come soon but it does raise the spirits. Just dreaming of the bright yellow flowers can raise the level of the cloud layer by inches.

A tour of the garden at this time of year is quite interesting. All looks brown and quite dead - from a distance. But, up close, the sword ferns are showing tight, pale green fiddle heads. In a sea of dark brow magnolia leaves are sturdy bright green sprouts of oriental poppies. Under the lilac, is a Lenten Rose (hellebore) bursting to show off its flowers. This will be it's first year to bloom since being purchased at a local garage sale two years ago.

The day is cold for a tour and I didn't want to linger. I could see , though, how much work will need to be done. Funny, how, I can see it now when nothing really is urgent. But when all that growth begins in the spring, I don't want to change anything.