Gardening » The Persistence of Vision

Spring at Arcadia Farm

Apr 092010

Here are a few photographs from yesterday, when I went down to Arcadia to finish up the final paint job in the first bedroom we are renovating. A spring cool front had come through the night before along with some passing showers, washing away the dust and pollen and leaving the air crisp and clear. The azaleas, which for most of the year are fairly unassuming shrubs, have burst into color, like torches of purple and red flame staked into the ground. I walked around for a good half hour, breathing in the clean air and marveling at the loveliness of the place. The photos only give a glimpse of the gardens’ beauty:

At Last

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Mar 092010

Forsythia

Warmth. Signs of spring. I love that my birthday falls during this time, that every year the Earth comes alive again just at the moment I am turning a year older. This is like New Year’s for me, screw that January 1st business. And you know, if you were running low on useless trivia for the day, March was originally celebrated by the Romans as the New Year, when lots of grand festivals were held and troops marched off to war (March is named for the Roman god of war, Mars). September was originally the seventh month, hence “Sept”, “Oct”, “Nov”, Dec”, etc. Julius Caesar moved it back, later on. Something about the innacuracies of the lunar calendar. Whatever. I’m sticking with March.

In any case, the weather made it possible to head down to the farm again on Sunday. Inside the house I painted one of the bedroom ceilings while my sister sorted and boxed years of keepsakes, clothes, and junk. Outside I was able to clean up a few flower beds and plant somewhere around 15 or so azaleas, butterfly bushes, shade perennials, and an herb or two. The LOML continued with the old fence removal, a herculaean task that hopefully will be finished up this summer. As usual, there were beautiful flowers in bloom everywhere. The camellia japonicas are at their peak, joined by early season snowdrops, forsythia, daffodils, and narcissus (yes I know they’re taxonomically the same thing). Pictures after the cut.

In other news, the novel is treking along. 1000 more words yesterday, hopefully a pace I can keep up all week. Right now our heroine is deep in the bowels of Hell, having a little fireside chat with the big man himself. Trouble is brewing. “No fear,” Satan whispers. No fear.

And speaking of Satan, yesterday my shiny, new, signed copy of Joe Hill’s latest, Horns, arrived in the mail. I’d ordered it from The Signed Page, so it came inscribed with a cool little drawing. Happy, happy, squee! For those of you who don’t know, Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son, author of a couple of books now along with an outstanding short story collection. A fine, fine spec fiction writer in his own right. In some ways, I actually prefer his work to his dad’s, as he explores a wider range of themes than his father does. Very cool. I’ll probably devour it over the weekend.

And now, as promised, some photography. All cultivar names, incidentally, are just guesses. My mom bought and planted what she loved, but she wasn’t a big record keeper:

Silence Always Wins

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Feb 222010

Friday was a great, productive day. The best I’d had in ages. Over 1000 new words on the novel, the entire day spent sifting through piles of notes, organizing plot lines, and adding scenes to better flesh out the characters. I’m hoping to keep up the momentum today after a couple of days away from the pen.

The weekend was spent with my children, helping them with projects and working on various scouting badges. On Saturday the LOML and I built a birdhouse with my son, and he went to his bi-weekly pack meeting. On Sunday my daughter had an beginner’s ice skating clinic, and we stayed afterward to let them both have some time on the ice. It was great – ice rinks are few and far between in this area of the country. They’ll have an opportunity to learn something I never did as a kid. The free time I had in between was spent cleaning up and working in the garden, taking advantage of some rare warm and dry days to take down the greenhouse and plan out the projects I want to tackle for my birthday week vacation. It’s on March 10th, very near the frost date for my zone, and so every year my birthday gift to myself is a week off to work outside. It’s my official spring celebration, the waking up ceremony, if you will. A little premature for the equinox, but what the hell.

Saturday night we watched Jane Campion’s Bright Star, and were mightily impressed. I’ve studied Keats for years; wrote my senior thesis on his work, but it was a joy to watch the LOML become interested. After the movie he did some web research, and read my favorite, “The Eve of St. Agnes.” Made me happy, happy. Am re-reading Complete Poems this week, as well as finishing Aileen Ward’s biography, begun years ago but never completed. I do that a lot – watch a movie, read a book, hear a song, and then plunge headlong into studying the topic for weeks. It’s just my nature, said the scorpion to the turtle.

For those interested, the title reference below the cut: