Thursday, March 15, 2012

A Daffodil

I have a solitary daffodil in bloom on the north side of the house, and one in bud in front. Usually these clumps get their greenery but do not bloom, so I am glad to see them this year. Other things are coming up, as well: tufts of columbine and bleeding heart, the little tongues of wild violet, buds on the clematis vine, tulips, iris, and day lily. Plus hydrangea, forsythia, and lilac are beginning their budding.

It will be 80 degrees, perhaps, today, and I am tempted to do lots of yard work, but I also resist pulling off all the fall leaf cover because then the big fat rabbits will find and eat it all, getting bigger and fatter. I am OK with them eating some of it, but not all.

So I plan a long walk on the trail into town to get some library books: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer, our next book-group book, and Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich, because, happy, optimistic, and joyful as I am, I am not blinded by the cheerful light, nor fooled by it, and I need a wise crone to tell it to me straight so I know I'm not crazy when my cynicism surges up.

I do need sunglasses.

Thanks to Karen Roe for the daffodil in England above, and to BerndH for the Narcissus pseudo-narcissus, a name that implies all that's making it a Cranky Doodle Day for me in the privacy of my own mind. That's why I'm going outdoors, to be in touch with reality and to let the big fat rabbits know I'm here.

7 comments:

Marcoantonio Arellano (Nene) said...

Didn't that daffodil come up as a gift to you and toni for winning the state title? What is the Illinois state flower?

Enjoy your day and smile at that big fat rabbit out there. We have their relatives in our back yard

Have wonderful warm day and allow your body to sweat all those toxins.

xo tu amigo

Kathleen said...

The violet is the Illinois state flower.

Collagemama said...

A library walk is always a good plan. It's nice of the rabbits to let you visit their yard. The older my dad got the more he resented the squirrels for not paying rent and the crows for waking him up. The rabbits he didn't mind since they were happy eating weeds and providing entertainment.

Susan Ryder said...

You are going to LOVE the new book, I already do!

Kathleen said...

I do give the big fat rabbits apples, celery, and lettuce. Hmm, is that why they are so big and fat? And I do love their general grazing practices and have started to model my own eating on theirs... Wait. That will make me big and fat. And furry. Sigh....

I put Extremely Loud on hold at the library and am reading Barbara Ehrenreich now. She is so smart and so funny and bright and cheery even as she pokes holes in the bright and cheery movement.

Ruth said...

When we get grounded in Nature, we bloom too. Lovely.

Kathleen said...

Good way of looking at it, Ruth. Thank you.