It is now.

2011/04/212011/05/02Leave a comment

Some kind of lily tulip, I think. It has striped leaves.

The color for April is… first flowers. I know, I know. But after a snow-covered, ground-frozen winter, the colors of the first flowers are near-miraculous. How do they do it? These are all first-appearing flowers from bulb, seed or shrubbery that have endured, uneaten by creature or climate, the months of cold. Look, really look at a flower. You cannot question the expansive benevolence of the universe.

And of course the daffodils

May Swenson talks about daffodils best:

Yellow telephones
in a row in the garden
are ringing,
shrill with light.

Old-fashioned spring
brings earliest models out
each April the same,
naïve and classical.

Look into the yolk-
colored mouthpieces
alert with echoes.
Say hello to time.

Tiny small bi-color daffodils

A clump of wild violets, even tinier and smaller

Dandelions, too, are a first flower. Appreciate, then say goodbye to this one.

Another weed, very prevalent. I will not win this battle, though I will try.

Pieris japonica ‘Cavatine’, dwarf lily-of-the-valley shrub

The time of many flowers is coming. I tend to favor self-propagating, working perennials — those that attract and feed bees, butterflies, and birds. After three springs here (and the presence of Dog keeping the deer away), there will be a satisfying abundance of both color and utility. We will continue to enjoy the delicious splendor, a lot.

First flowers are specialer, though. Thank you! Grow some flowers today!

night out

2011/04/142011/04/21Leave a comment

second-floor non-smoking level

Last night after the awards ceremony for VolunCheer 2011, at which Mr Speed and a group of his musical coworkers were recognized for benefit events they put on to support the family of one of them who contracted and died of ALS, a few of us gathered for drinks at the bar. This is when the reality of life goes on, for those of us who are alive — survivors — and reverts back to everyday concerns, such as finding common ground and entertaining one another.

The entire second floor of the casino / event center — which is huge — is (thankfully) smoke-free, and coincidentally, sparsely populated. Still, the ambient noise of repetitive, demon carnival slot machines and pop music, combined with the thousand points of light of neon signage and whateverthefuck those ceiling fixtures are made of, not even beginning to think about what all these people are actually doing here? adds up rapidly, for me, to one of the circles of hell.

On an unexpected redeeming side, however, was the ceiling above the bar, an enormous, undulating map of Rhode Island — which has a lot of coastline — painted in pleasant blue and yellow. I enjoyed studying it, zoning out of conversation dominated by workplace talk. By the end, though, we were talking about our kids, milestone birthdays, and the small details of the satisfactions of life.

It had mostly stopped raining as we drove home, largely in silence, comfortable, to the ecstatic dog, the house in the woods, the welcoming bed, the whispering reminder to remember, what is important, what matters, while we can.