Mid-January

Rainbow

A few blocks away from us, an apartment building is advertising its vacancies with rainbow bunches of balloons. They are looking ahead to the summer, when all the students will be moving out. Right now we're in full-blown spring, though, and these rainbow colors are everywhere.

These are the brilliant, sun-drenched colors of spring in Florida.

Another Sign of Spring

Roadside mullet stands are popping up all over town. By the end of the summer, these places will be selling scuppernongs and tupelo honey. Now some of them are just guys in their boats with coolers full of the mullet they caught last weekend.

TV For Cats

Spring means more squirrels dashing insanely around our yard, pausing once in a while to eat some birdseed. It's hours of entertainment for Poppy.

Quick Work

Yesterday the groundhog didn't see his shadow. Today it's already spring.

Miniature Spring

Today our front yard is full of tiny flowers of various kinds -- pink, purple, yellow, and white. All smaller than a pencil eraser.

But I'm happy to see spring in any size.

Signs of Spring

Blue sky.

Camellias in bloom.

Ducks enjoying the sunshine.

Ducks on nests.

Ducklings!

And an egret -- not really a sign of spring, because I think he lives at Lake Ella year-round, but I'm putting him in anyway.

Happy First Day of Spring!

Tired from traveling,
seeking an inn, I found
wisteria flowers.

-- Basho
Today I had my own Basho moment: driving back from campus, I found these wisteria flowers behind an optometrist's office.

A Garden Walk

Jennifer is visiting us! Early in the morning and late at night I'm still putting the finishing touches on my dissertation. But during the day I now get to go out and have fun! We spent one sunny afternoon at the Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park.

This is the main path to the gardens, with huge trees overhead and flowers at your feet.

A magnolia tree draped with spanish moss.

The garden of native plants looked like a jungle, but the ground was carpeted with wildflowers.

Azaleas and mountain laurels were in bloom ...

... and the Azalea Hillside was lined with them.

Entering the Walled Garden ...

... and exiting to a reflecting pool that leads to a lake.

The Pond Garden ...

... so pretty I can't even caption the pictures! Just look at all the gorgeousness!

Camellias, dogwood trees, azaleas ... everything looks better framed by lots of spanish moss.

Our Subtle Spring

As I'm working in my study, I can see that our neighbors have some spectacular trees in bloom, like the one in the previous post. In our yard, though, spring is a little more subtle. We have tiny yellow flowers ...

... and tiny purple flowers. They may be small, but it's nice to have something colorful to look at while you're thinking about your dissertation.

Happy Birthday, Ursi!

Your birthday always seems to signal the beginning of spring. I hope it's a lovely day there!

Maple Keys at Lake Ella

Readers, you all hold the keys to my heart! Happy Valentine's Day.

Erasmus Darwin on Seeds

Lo! on each Seed within its slender rind
Life's golden threads in endless circles wind;
Maze within maze the lucid webs are roll'd,
And, as they burst, the living flame unfold.
The pulpy acorn, ere it swells, contains
The Oak's vast branches in its milky veins;
Each ravel'd bud, fine film, and fibre-line
Traced with nice pencil on the small design.

The young Narcissus, in its bulb compress'd
Cradles a second nestling on its breast;
In whose fine arms a younger embryon lies,
Folds its thin leaves, and shuts its floret-eyes;
Grain within grain successive harvests dwell,
And boundless forests slumber in a shell.

From The Economy of Vegetation, by Erasmus Darwin

A Groundhog Day Video

Ever since I heard this Gillian Welch song, "Winter's Come and Gone," last week, I've had it stuck in my head. It reminds me of watching the birds in Temporary Librarian's wintry yard. I thought it would be a good song for Groundhog Day, even though I'm still not entirely convinced that winter has come and gone here. As you can see, the groundhog definitely saw his shadow here today. I hope spring is on its way wherever you are.

Instant Gratification

Could spring really be here?

Spring in the Air

The bud
stands for all things,
even those things that don't flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing,
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, in self-blessing ...

From St. Francis and the Sow, by Galway Kinnell

My Year In Poetry

Hey, want to see all of my favorite poems from 2007? I went back and labelled them, so now you can click on the "poetry" label at the bottom of any poetry post and see them all at once. Or you can just read the following poem, which pretty much sums them all up:

The Twelve Months

Snowy, flowy, blowy,

Showery, flowery, bowery,

Hoppy, croppy, droppy,

Breezy, sneezy, freezy.

-- George Ellis

Sunrise at Griffy

I went to Lake Griffy early on Saturday morning. The mist was rising off the lake, and this blue heron was standing very still in the middle of it.

The sun was just rising, and I was the only one there, apart from a lot of noisy ducks and Canada geese.

I walked back along the Wetlands Trail, which was muddy but beautiful.

I was admiring the reflections of the trees ...

... when I saw these shapes reflected in the water ...

... and looked up to see the sky full of hot air balloons! It was Little 500 weekend, and they were there for the race. But I think the best way to see them was alone in the marsh.