April in the Garden

It is a warm and sunny morning.  Blue skies, - the sound of sandhill cranes flying through the valley, skirting the friendly clouds,

I am out early, with no other commitments than to feel the warm earth on my hands, and a half a dozen amaryllis that need a summer home.

I find a lovely big pot, loosen the soil, add a handful of promising fertilizing pellets and top it up with some beautiful black crumbly composted earth; into which I scoop out little bowls and lay the bulbs and their long trailing roots, patting them tenderly and wishing them a nice summer in whatever weather might come and nurture them.

Yesterday I made myself a nice cheese sandwich, and took a cup of coffee and a bowl of yogurt out for lunch on the lawn, but today I had a Philharmonic concert from Berlin to watch and listen to at eleven o'clock.  Gorgeous Shumann, a marvelous Mozart and then some rousing Strauss.

So after tending to the amaryllis I made a tour of my little garden spot, - marveling at how quickly things are growing and coming into bud and blossom, and here are some of the things that Callie and I found growing.

Mostly tulips and aconites in bloom right now, but the early peonies have pink buds

and the poppies and delphinium  are reaching skywards.

And some people have early lilacs blooming, filling their yards with

heavenly scent.  Mine are on the verge.....

There is a great plethora of that particular kind of violet

that doesn't bloom, but seeds itself in every available bit of space,

crowding around the feet of all the perennials.  It seems to

have taken the place of the Great Chinese Lantern Railway

(which is present, but in decent bounds)

and I spend a lot of time pulling it out by its shallow roots

and filling the compost bins.

The hills are greening nicely, and I noticed coming home from Penticton the

other day that the Black Eyed Susans are beginning

to decorate the hillsides.

I am taking the trip across the Pass on Sunday, to a birthday party,

and will have a fine opportunity to take pictures

as a dear DIL is driving.

Oh, - and did I tell you I heard a Meadowlark singing across the way,

towards the creek!!!!

And here is the 'new-bed-last-year' where I am going to plant lilies and freesia tomorrow!

ABC Wednesday
late on Thursday.......
The letter is N for NOW, you forgetful Nellie!!!

The days go by, and I try to keep my reminder Notes up-to-date, but sometimes Time plays tricks on me, and I forget...

Yesterday I looked, puzzled, at the "Tree to Me" note on my wall calendar - what could it mean????

I put it out of my mind as inconsequential and went off to singing with the Seniors - singing at Orchard Haven where those who are not lucky enough to still look after themselves find - well, HAVEN...

My good friend who fell and broke her leg is there, - no longer able to maintain her own little apartment.  And my dear, old friend who I first met seventy years ago and who is so terribly frustrated by her inability to be able to find words to express herself (as the result of a stroke).  She is also there...  Time stretches on painfully for them, and NOW is not always pleasant.

As we finished singing the old tunes for those residents who had gathered to listen and some to sing along, one of the singers said "Are you coming to LUNCH?"

LUNCH?  LUNCH???? - oh my, - NOW I remember.  Lunch with the Apple Tarts at TREE TO ME!!

I didn't go to lunch.  I filled my NOW time trying to solve the problem of why my dear old friend could not hear (dead battery in her hearing aid), holding her hand, and reminiscing.

Today my NOW time is going to be spent in the garden, - but first this little contribution to ABC Wednesday, whose Yesterday was NOW TIME, but better late than never, I guess......

If you pop in here at ABC Wednesday you will probably find much more interesting comments on the letter N by people who are more attentive to NOW and get things done on time!!!!  Like all the NOBLE people at ABC Wednesday!!

And I will go out in the garden on this lovely sunny day and plant pansies and sweet peas, grateful that I have such pleasant things to fill my NOW days at Ninety!

All in the April evening...

I see on Facebook that my nephew, the News Correspondent, has posted the launching of the robotic Dragon with a load of supplies for the International Space Station, and so I hurry to the site and the image of the ship and the Falcon launcher standing straight and tall, pointed towards the heavens against the blue of the sky and the wisp of clouds, and belching smoke and fire .....

As I watched the preparations for launch suddenly into my head came the hymn, 'All in the April Evening' (Roberton) and I found myself humming, and singing snatches of the words.  A somewhat vague feeling of the passage of time, eternity, and how in some way despite the great advances in technologly since I first learned that lovely April hymn, all things remain the same throughout and despite these incredible changes.

And how blase we are about it all...  I saw nothing on the news about the Falcon and the robotic Dragon, - or the close proximity of Mars and the total eclipse of the moon (ah, I was looking in the wrong place...)

When we first came to the farm and John Maunsell was the incumbent at St. John's there were a number of good singers in the congregation and we formed a choir of sorts.  All in the April Evening was one of the pieces we sang - it has a lovely sweetness and melancholy about it and it brought back so many memories.  Singing, sheep, lambs, the years on the farm........

I love the sound of this Men's Choir and picture the sheep on the hills in the Dales when we visited Charles' crew member, Brownie, in Peakdale..

A walk in the April woods with Charles when we first met, - a journey through space this April afternoon some seventy years later.....the same incredibly beautiful world!!!