A Promise of Spring...

Just as I simply cannot wait to decorate our home for Christmas, once it is over, I am just as eager to put everything away... and my thoughts turn to Spring... I am not a winter person... although the snow~covered countryside that surrounds our home in my little rural town is truly beautiful, I long for the warmth of the sun on my face, walking barefoot once more through tall, cool grass...eagerly awaiting that first little sign of my daffodils peeping through the ground after a long winter's nap... are you like me?... do your thoughts turn to Spring as well... and all of the beauty it has to offer?...

Today, elves and Santas will make way for little birdnests with teeny little speckled eggs inside...


Vintage ornaments will be gingerly packed away, along with miniature villages and trees... candy canes will be replaced with pastel~colored mints... I am already longing to sit on my back deck, with my comfy rose~covered quilt and pillow... a stack of gardening magazines at my side... the sound of birdsong filling the air... I miss my little Hummingbirds and pray they are doing okay so very far away in South America for the winter... I think about how excited I am when sometime in late April I call out to Jack... "they're here" when our first precious little winged jewel arrives...

I wait in eager anticipation for the first seed catalogs to arrive in my mailbox... to me, this is such a long awaited pleasure... I spend hours upon hours pouring over each one... shall I plant one of those?... and perhaps three of four of those?... I am such an avid gardener, a passion that was a gift to me from my mama, my grandmother and my great~grandmother... all of whom had the most beautiful cottage gardens one would ever hope to see... if I had to choose one thing that stirs my soul the very most, it is gardening... and Nature... okay, that's two things... but they go hand~in~hand... so today, after putting all of the decorations away, I shall make myself a cup of tea in my favorite vintage violets teacup...

and sit down with my garden journal... I will browse through it slowly... remembering through my little sketches where each and every plant is and how elated I am when I see their first teeny shoots in the Spring... I will make my "wish~list" for new flowers and plants I want to put in this year... I will dream about my container plantings and decide just which ones are my favorites (which is very hard for me... they are ALL my favorites)... soon, our little garden center down the lane will display beautiful pots of primrose and pansies out front... as they begin working full~time in their greenhouses... planting tiny seedlings in peat pots... I can while away an entire day at that little nursery... savoring the warmth of the sun and the smell of moist potting soil... my pleasures are simple ones... these are the things that delight my senses and make me feel alive!...

I gaze at my photos from last Spring of my beautiful fairy rose... so soft and sweet... and what a perfect name for such a perfect creation... my little flower fairies will take their place once more about my home today where the elves and santas stood these past weeks...

Do you too dream of Spring like I do?... if so, happy thoughts to you... now, I am off to settle down with my Lady Grey tea... garden journal and pencil in hand... and let my cares melt away and my thoughts carry me away to a warm Spring day... xoxo