Three days of temperatures over 80 degrees in April in New England!
As I write this, the emerging dogwood buds are eager to burst open in the sunshine. My favorite rabbit has begun his springtime visits to feast on the tender green shoots along the grassy edge. The scarlet cardinal and his mate greet me every morning with their cheery calls and I whistle back. We have great chats! The chickadees scold me if there is not enough seed in the feeder and the robins are carefully considering suitable nesting spots - most likely in the protection of my spring wreath on the front door. The little birds signal when the hawk is near and everyone goes quickly quiet.
A veritable community of simple conversations! All focused on creating a safe place to raise their families and feed their young. Amid the intrusions of predators, wind, rain, heat, and cold, they work together.
As I plan the week ahead, my world will be filled with conversations. Wish they could be
so simple. The tasks of the day sometimes feel overwhelming. File your tax returns or suffer the consequences. Fight the overwhelming bureaucracy as I guide the needs ofmy special needs sister. Conversations at the Council table about taxes and budgets to determine the best use of taxpayer dollars for all interest groups and residents. Conversation with the car mechanic and the veterinarian. All, "not so simple" conversations focused on creating a safe place for family. Sometimes I wish I was a Robin.
Time for an escape! Come with me to the Wicked Tulips farm in Exeter, RI. A sunny day, a beautiful ride through the CT Countryside. There up ahead wide stripes of tulips shouting "Here I am!", in every color of the rainbow. Some are very short speaking in quiet pastel voices. Others, gracefully tall, banding in the breeze, their bright yellow petals say , "Here comes the sun!" The red ones, some ruffled and some a deep burgundy, all proclaim their passion.
And then, not red, not yellow but the perfect marriage proudly and confidently voicing their unique "orangeness"
The pristine white inspire quiet refelction. mThe deep purple and delicate lavender are truly the royalty! The creatives with multiple petals pretend to be peonies or rose. There are tulips with softly rounded petals, fringed oetals abd sharoly ointed etals. but all talk at once. " Look at me!"
Some are just beginning to bloom, some are at the oeak of perfection and some are beginning to fade as they are providing sustenance to the bulb that will return again in spring. Bulbs that perhaps, will find their way to your garden to start a conversation with you.
I am left to wonder. We are all tulips in our own gardens. Different shapes and different colors, and we all live in rows in our own spaces. How is it th
at we often have so much difficulty accepting the variety of people in the rows? How is it that the beauty of so many different tulips, each with their own perspective and personality, sharing the same sunny field, brings us such joy and takes our breath away?
Today's Lesson of Flowers.
I hope you will visit Wickedtulips.com or Wicked Tulips on Facebook to reserve a time to actually visit one of their beautiful farms. .. Only a couple of weeks left til next year! In the meantime enjoy these photos from an amateur photographer who had a lovely day at the frame tip toeing through the tulips.
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