Friday Favourites on Saturday: Good and Beautiful Things

 

As she crossed her little bridge to the adjoining road, 

she sniffed the moist morning air and felt a lift of her heart.

The air was full of green, damp smells, a sign to her of the warming 

and the coming of Spring.

Framed in Fire

Iona Wishaw

There is much to be concerned about in this world of ours. I prefer to dwell on more positive things. Here are five of them. 

Morning Bird Song

Most mornings now I awake to hear the sound of American Robins chattering loudly in the trees outside my open window. And if it's not the robins, then I'll listen to rain drumming down. March is a capricious month and it's a good idea to have a raincoat and umbrella ready at all time. There's be nary a flake of snow all winter, but now in March a few flurries have blown through on higher elevations around us. Nothing in our garden, though. And by now, I'm ready for warmer, sunnier days and will hope for snow next winter. But that's far far away! 

Prunus Blossoms

This is my view when I step out my front door, a froth of pink across the street. What a lift to the spirits even on a dull cloudy day. It's so good to be out in the fresh clean air with signs of the season popping up everywhere. Trees covered in white and pink are candy for the eyes. 

A Bouquet of Tulips

This vase full of tulips is weathering well on the table. Those little frilled edges add such a fun touch to the blooms. And such a lovely colours! And the sunlight! 

I've been thinking about March 2020 when the pandemic began. The world was in turmoil then as it is now. But beauty abounds if we just look for it. These days, it doesn't take too much effort to find it outdoors, or in a simple bunch of grocery store flowers, grown less than 10 kilometres from here. 

Green and Leafy Things

Green is March's colour, I think. When I grew up in a more northerly climate, the end of winter was often bleak and brown as the snow melted. How we longed for the acid green new growth on shrubs and trees. On Vancouver Island our grass is greenest in the winter with plenty of rain and goes brown in the summer. But I still look for the tiny swelling leaves on the tips of branches. The Osoberry bushes are some of the earliest to leaf out and bloom, filling the woods with the promise of Spring. 

Books and Tea

I confess that my tea is normally sipped from a large bone china mug rather than a dainty teacup. But once in awhile a teacup seems appropriate, particularly when leafing through A Garden A Day, filled with delightful images of gardens around the world. On September 24 the book features Butchart Gardens here in Victoria, and that's where I'm taking myself off to this morning while my husband is in a beekeeping course. 

The sky is blue, blue, blue, and clumps of daffodils make bright spots in the garden. Wishing you a lovely day as you notice the good and beautiful things in your world.