Upon Lilacs

I have always adored cut flowers (and indeed long for a cutting garden some day) and have always found a certain amount of pleasure in the garden; however, since moving out of my childhood home and living with dear Carl, I do feel that these pleasures have become magnified for me.

I had always noticed the snowdrops and the daffodils and the autumn leaves before- but now I anticipate them, look out for them eagerly on the way to work. And I find I am willing, even thirsty and hungry to learn more. There was a time when I did not find such things boring as such, but in my little world of homework and friends, they just did not feature. One of my favourite things, now that I have seen the light, is to learn names.

Now it may be true that as Shakespeare said 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet' but to me there is something special in names. It is like greeting a new friend, to be able to say there, that is a branch of wisteria climbing that wall. Joyfully hailing an old friend, and learning more about them. Hello, narcissus- and hello, Rip Van Winkle narcissus, with your frizzy, frizzy petals.

This morning on the way to work, tiny, inky purple black miniature pansies pushing their way up through some lilac wood chippings.

Talking of lilacs, they are my new love. Ever since I learned that lilac is the name for these beautiful blossom like flowers, I have been seeing them everywhere. And reading about them on other peoples blogs:

http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/knitblog

www.ljcfyi.com

I found a sadly neglected bunch of 20 tulips at the shop- they had started to droop and one or two had shed their petals in despair. They were only 40p, so I took them home, trimmed their stems, threw out the ones past hope, gave them a good long drink, and they are flourishing now. Revived in much the same way a cup of tea revives me after a long day at work!