As I sit at my desk in my writing cottage the soft blue sky has just a few wispy clouds that slowly float on by. It’s a brisk one out there this morning in the lower 30s. But there is a flurry of activity with clear indications that spring is truly on the way.
Little yellow finch seems to have found a small patch of open water in the frozen make shift bird bath. While Ms. Sparrow is more than likely keeping a close guard over new eggs laid, while at the same time curious about all the buzz outside.
Next door, a landscape crew, decked out in winter headbands, gloves, and heavy jackets puts down fresh topsoil on the neighbors garden.
I’m dreaming of our own new landscaping that hopefully will begin too in the upcoming weeks. After living here for over 25 years and not care taking the gardens all that well, it’s time for a fresh start.
This time I’m hoping the garden bug will bite me a little harder and I’ll be better at the up keeping. Though as we planned our landscaping with the landscaper company in the bitter cold of winter, I did ask for it to be as maintenance free as a garden can be.
And so that is the view out my writing cottage this morning — a fresh start for all creatures, great and small. Hope dances outside my windows.
I mentioned on my blog Monday that John and I were going on what I dubbed, “a field trip date” on Tuesday. We had so much fun and hope to do this quarterly. There is so much to see in our area that really only requires a hour or two drive.
And after having such a fantastic day, I’m wondering why kids should only have field trips—adults surely need this even more!
We visited the Milwaukee Domes and with the temperature only reaching 15 degrees yesterday it was a smart choice…and a welcome one to be in the overly large greenhouses of tropical, desert, and floral themes where it was warm and lush with greenery and vibrant colors.
I share photos below, so you can take a five minute visual field trip. But before I do, I just had to chuckle after shopping in the gift shop and what John said to me afterwards.
We browsed around the garden themed gift shop for a few moments before John meandered out into the hallway to wait for me. I was having somewhat of a hard time deciding what I wanted to purchase.
My heart jumped a bit in my chest when I spotted this book by Marta McDowell, Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life. But I had to make sure I wasn’t “missing” out on anything else and looked around for a bit longer.
I should have known better, because within moments I was back starring at this book. I ran my hand over the cover. I knew this was the treasure I had to take home with me. I could hardly even stand the wait to open it and start reading it!
I met John out in the hallway. He said, “So what did you get?”
I slowly slid the book out of the brown paper bag, as if holding a piece of gold. I smiled.
He said, “I knew you were going to get that book.”
I was surprised he said this. “How did you know?”
With a grin on his face as big as the Cheshire cat he said, “Because it has an old lady on the front.”
This is when I knew he does pay attention to me now and then. I played along to make sure my assumption was correct. “And I bought this book because Beatrix Potter reminds me of….”
“Tasha Tudor, of course!” He said.
As you may know, if you follow me here on my blog, I’m a bit enamored with Tasha Tudor – which I go in streaks about – and have been on a kick with her again lately. I now have all her hardcover books about her life that I bought second hand. I’ll never, ever tire of them. I’m sure of it.
Tasha had a huge, beautiful garden also and was a writer/illustrator. And someone, like Beatrix Potter, who absolutely lived her life on her own terms. Something I continually strive to do and likely why I’m so attracted to fellow creatives such as Tasha and Beatrix.
It certainly isn’t that I’m a good gardener, as I’m far from that. But there is something about how they weaved this into their creative lives that fascinates me, too.
But I digress. Back to John’s comments… it was in that moment, I felt so loved and so understood. It was really the highlight of my field trip date with him.
A memory I now hold as something quite special in my heart. Now onto the photos – enjoy!
What is it about this little Miss Gidget? Just when I think she is a Buddha dog, she turns into this darling little fairy who had to help me in the garden this weekend.
She has these mystical, magical qualities about her that I find so endearing. Wherever I am, she is content to sit nearby and soak in the scenery around her. While yes, I had her tied to the tiny shrub tree nearby, she didn’t seem to mind. She sat, good as could be in her spot watching birds land in the trees around her.
I swear a few times she was actually talking with the birds. It was just a feeling I had because she would sit so still, looking up at a bird sitting in the branch above her.
I’m surprised I even got my gardening done, because I was glancing her way so often. But it was so meditative, just being with her and Kylie (I posted a pic of the two of them “helping” me on Facebook).
By the end of the weekend, with so much activity outside, the little Fairy could hardly keep her eyes open, though she tried with all her might last night while John and I relaxed in the living room.
But pretty soon she could no longer fight it and off to sleep she went with the most content look on her face. A look that made this dog mom’s heart full up with love to know her little one is happy.
