I always claim autumn as being my favorite season, what with its cooling days, perfect for sweaters, and the abundance of color in the treetops, among other things that bring me joy. But when I experience a spring like this one I’m hard put not to do a complete aboutface. Spring is truly a wonder. There’s something new every day, every moment practically.
The kids ran laughing and shrieking through the sprinkler this afternoon, sleek as upright seals, their legs coated with tiny green grass shavings. They put the sprinkler under the big trampoline and screeched as the water tickled their feet through the weave. Later, they ran away to play with friends and left an outgoing tide of crumpled towels and bright, plastic juice cups abandoned on the deck.
I pulled a lawn chair from the garage and sat on the deck in the sunshine. All the typical summer sounds surrounded me, filling the air with birdsong, bird calls, horse whiffles, the distant drone of a lawnmower. Pale yellow butterflies bumbled about by the ditch, a ladybug crawled slowly by my shoe. The large black parents (crow or jackdaw, I couldn’t be sure in the sunshine) of the baby birds nested in our garage flew swooping by, landing on the playhouse and the trees across the ditch, obviously not wanting to go in under the eaves while I was sitting there. It appears some type of wren is using the playhouse birdhouses as well, which makes me inordinately happy.
As if everything were water, the sun sparked a silver line from the entire world. The grass shone, the new leaves on the trees sparkled silver in the breeze. I kicked off my shoes and put my legs up. The cherry tree is nearly done blooming, only a few white blossoms still clutch at the end of the highest branches. I went inside and found pressed flower paper, appropriate for the springy feeling inside me, and wrote a letter of thanks to a friend. The paper grew soft in the warmth of the sunshine and the ink in my pen glittered. O! It had glitter IN it! Diamond sparkles on the page. I covered both sides with shining writing and folded it and tucked it into an envelope with rose petals on the flap.
If it sounds like I am spending my days in a spring-struck daze you’d be half right. Other things are going on as well, some of which are not so nice and which I have therefore chosen not to write about here. While I seldom choose to share things that are bothering me here with the internets, it has been brought home to me in more ways than one recently and with more than one person that my ideas of friendship and common courtesy are apparently not the same as others and I have been doing quite a lot of stewing and re-thinking about both. More, perhaps, on that subject later. For now, I hope it is enough to share my happiness at the burgeoning spring and the glory of daily sunshine in Sweden.
On another note, I was very bummed out to learn last night that Pandora is no longer available outside the U.S. due to issues with global licensing rights. Thankfully, no one has shut down Musicovery to ISPs abroad yet, but I have a feeling it’s just a matter of time. I would never have discovered so many wonderful new artists and bands in the past few years without the help of Pandora, so this was a blow to the revival of my musical explorations.
Great Big Gobs of Ooey Gooey, Albeit Belated, Birthday Wishes for thinkum!
*Edwin Way Teale