Reflections on Week Just Past

The fragrance of daffodils fresh cut from the yard filled my house with a delicate and delicious perfume. I think of the neighbor who shared the King Alfred bulbs with me when she bought a huge bag from Costco one year. She is gone, but her memory lingers in the beauty of the daffodils and in the knowledge that I gained from her sharing. They are fragrant, even being grown especially for the perfume industry and they are an ancient symbol of the Resurrection.


The photo shows some of the daffodils as they appear outside this year. It has either been too wet or too murky to take good pictures this year, so they will not be as well documented as they have in the past.

The next day the heady fragrance of lavender filled my dining room while I worked on lavender sachets and dream pillows for my herbal craft business. More about that after the items are posted on Etsy. The lavender did not quite overpower the daffodils, but they did not exactly blend either. Probably not compatible ingredients for the same perfume or potpourri.

Monday saw a furry visitor to my Pyracantha as well. One squirrel firmly planted herself and ate and ate and ate of the red berries. The next day robins filled the bush. The squirrel slipped in at the back and later a squirrel (perhaps the same one) appeared in the rose bush eating the rose hips. Poor baby, there are almost no berries left now and the robins, after stripping the bushes, have moved on in their migration.

Tuesday, February 16. would have been Papa's 90th birthday, if he were still alive. I wondered what he would be like if he were still alive. Wiser and just as full of intelligence and humor. A little more wizened too.

Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. This year is going by too quickly already. Time doesn't fly, it flees! Easter is just around the corner.

Thursday my sewing machine and I actually cooperated to get an hour's worth of work done. So often we fight. It was nice to go to it and be able to just do the tasks. Of course, setting it up properly does help! For me, this means reading the book that came with it every time I re-do anything. (Putting the bobbin in and putting the needle in are two of the pitfalls. Threading the needle is another.) Reading the book and checking the diagrams takes so much less time and energy than cussing and screaming, that it is amazing that it took me so long to realize that was the way to go. (Better for the blood pressure too.)

Now it is Saturday already. Time to bake bread and do laundry and clean the kitchen. I am grateful for the show of nature (glad I was inside when all those birds were outside) and grateful for simple weekend chores. If the sun actually shines that will be cause for gratitude too.

More Spring Flowers

This post is for my sister and everyone who is still locked into cold weather. (It has been cold here too, but not so much so that it has impeded Spring.) Yesterday I went outside and took more flower pictures. Here are the two calla lilies blooming on my porch steps.



Followed by one white daffodil.



Then a yellow daffodil.



The callas are especially beautiful and the white daffodils continue to amaze me. I am grateful for the joy they bring as well as their beauty.

Where oh Where Does the Time Fly To?

How can it be Saturday already? I fully intended to post on Thursday, the Feast of St. Joseph. St Joseph is the patron saint of fathers, of families and of workers. We all need his intercession now more than ever. For those of us who are still employed, whose businesses are holding up or who are starting new ventures, that our employment may continue. For those of us in need of work, that we may find work. My godmother, who is 91, sent me a card for St Joseph's day. I was deeply touched. I have spent the week updating Easter designs to my cafepress shop and need to do the same to my Etsy. It was so appropriate to send me a card that blessed my endeavors and I smiled in hope and joy that she had sent it to me.

Of course, it also reminded me of my father and that makes me smile too. Papa is always worthy of remembering. Fathers don't get the recognition they deserve in our culture. Butt of sitcoms, instead of being portrayed as the domestic heroes they truly are, fathers have an uphill climb now days. It is good, I think, to pause, remember St Joseph and think of our fathers.

This week I also admired my garden. The first calla lily bloomed several days ago and was quickly photographed and incorporated into one of my new cafepress Easter designs.


One perfect yellow daffodil caught my eye.

Here is an array of daffodils on the picnic table that shows yellow and white daffodils, the whites are in two stages. When they first open they look like jonquils with their white petals and yellow centers. Over a few days the yellow centers fade to white. These are Mount Hood daffodils and I bought the bulbs last year from American Meadows.

I love these Spring flowers so much and am extremely grateful today for all the manifold blessings of the week, especially my godmother and my flowers.

Catching up

I can't believe more than a week has gone by. Ah, how time can fly when one is having fun on Facebook! Among other things.

While the rest of the country has been freezing, it has been springlike here in California. The oldest of my daffodils already have buds. The flowers will bloom in succession this year, since all the new bulbs were planted in succession. It is fun to go outside and see the new little shoots poking up. January is a little too early, though, even here and I worry over them even as I admire them. Of course, with no rain, they have also needed to be watered.

I wish there were winter vegetables to accompany the flowers. If I live long enough...

Like everyone with in range of a newscast, I was amazed and heartened last week by the sight of people emerging from the plane on the Hudson. Is this a good omen for the year? I do hope so. Like over 200,000 other people I joined the pilot's fan club on Facebook.

The concert on the Capitol Mall yesterday was also amazing. It was touching and endearing to see and hear Pete Seeger and to sing along to "This Land". (We sang Climb Every Mountain and This Land is Your Land so many times in high school glee club concerts that I thought I would never want to hear either of them again. I had tears in my eyes yesterday as I sang along.)

It was wonderful, too, to see the Obama/Biden team journey to Washington by train, evoking images of earlier great Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and I think, Theodore Roosevelt who journeyed to their inaugurations the same way. I like Obama's sense of history, I like his brilliance and I hope and pray for him as he becomes our President.

While there is so much fear and despair in the air about the economy there is also this magnificent feeling of hope and joy. I hope the hope and joy win. I am grateful for the promises for the future that these days hold and these celebrations hold. May God be with us all.

Christmas Vacation

It is just as it should be. Christmas week has been a time of visiting with friends, reconnecting, baking and eating. Yesterday after baking gingersnaps, I spent the afternoon visiting with friends, sharing their good news and company. Then too full of caffeine and sugar I watched TV for a time, catching part of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking on one of my local PBS stations.

This is not an original Conan Doyle, and it didn't seem like it was. Too dark, not noir dark but macabre. It was creepy and seemed like Sherlock Holmes meets Law and Order Special Victims. I do not find psychopathology entertaining. I do not find sociopaths interesting characters. I have long thought that it is a major flaw of our culture that we have become obsessed with these things as entertainments. (I find the fact that people watch these things on TV and or watch the news and then can't sleep without "sleep aids" to be so obvious. We wouldn't need the sleep medicines if we'd turn off the TV!)

Anyway, no one but Jeremy Brett can be Sherlock Holmes as far as I am concerned. The original stories had the finesse of Victoriana. I won't look for more of these new ones. (But I did double check to make sure that I had locked the front door before I went to bed.)

My daffodils are starting to poke through the dirt. The older ones will remind me of a neighbor who died Christmas morning. She had organized caroling in the neighborhood for many years and for the last several, while she fought her fight against cancer, there were no carolers. She was a passionate gardener who generously shared her skills, knowledge and plants with the rest of us. One year she bought a bag of daffodil bulbs, one hundred King Alfred daffodils, from our local Costco and emailed our list that she had bulbs to share. I was the lucky one who bought the extras so as they bloom each year I will remember her. I had not known that daffodils where fragrant or that they are a symbol of the resurrection. I have her to thank for that for these daffodils are fragrant and having them led me to research on the web. She will be missed and remembered.

I hope there will be something similar for people to remember me by when the time comes. It is up to me to make sure that there is, another reason to practice kindness, generosity and gratitude--perhaps selfish, but it is those acts that will keep our memories alive to others.

Today I give thanks for the neighbor who shared her music and daffodil bulbs and for the friends who are making my holiday season busy and joyful.

Oh Happy Spring!

Daffodils from my yard and tulips from the Farmer's Market adorn the end of my kitchen counter. The sun shines in and Spring is truly here!

A few years ago (probably four) I was able to buy a quantity of daffodil bulbs from a neighbor who had gotten a bag of 100 from Costco. (The marvel of Costco combined with the wonder of the Internet--our neighborhood email list.) The bulbs bloomed perfectly, with flowers as large as the saucers that match my Mama's good teacups. Their first blooming season coincided with my purchase of a digital camera.

At the same time my young friend M, then a freshman in High School, was taking a photography class. She photographed my flowers with my camera. One shot stood out and I labeled it, "Perfect Daffodil".

The next year I began tinkering with cafepress and learning how to place my designs on their templates. One of my first designs was, "Daffodils, Oh Happy Spring", which is also available in Spanish as "Daffodils, Feliz Verano". Here it is on a mug



It is available on other items as well and when I checked it this morning I realized that I need to update more products to it (or should that be it to more products?) Anyway, I do hope that folks will check it out. Spring is coming and this is a perfect way to celebrate it! Thanks so much. I am so grateful for the beauty of the flowers, the warmer weather coming and all of my customers.

Tuesday's Glory

Today I got outside for the first time since well before Christmas to look at and photograph my daffodils. They are almost all blooming at once this year as though they couldn't wait any longer and had to spring up and shout! Their bright yellow, the color of sunshine itself, is so cheering and beautiful. Five had flopped over onto the ground and when my housekeeper, who is also my dear friend, came this afternoon she cut those for me so that now they cheer up the end of the kitchen counter.

So I have been indulging myself all day, first in being outside and taking pictures--not as good as the ones that M takes, but they don't all have to end up on cards and mugs--and then in reading favorite blogs.

My friends who blog in frozen Minnesota make me glad I live in California. Seraphic is fun to read and I am eagerly awaiting her book which should arrive tomorrow.

I glued more Valentines and sent out a bunch and am resisting the temptation to end the day with chocolate--maybe Thursday, on Valentine's Day.

Not much, certainly not world-shaking, but it was a good day.

Daffodils are Almost Here!

Finally, we are having a mild day so I poked my nose outside. The little Christmas tree doesn't appear to be making it, which makes me sad, but isn't surprising. It was charming while it lasted. The daffodils are shorter this year than in the past--they need to be separated, replanted and fed. The buds are swelling into yellow though, which means there will probably be flowers soon. Daffodils are one of the most beautiful flowers in the world in my opinion, and these, being King Alfred, are fragrant as well. I did not realize until last year that daffodils are actually grown for the perfume industry. (So it is never too late to learn new things--as my keyboard demonstrated to me yesterday.)

The roses need trimming and so do most of the potted herbs on my porch. That will wait for a slightly warmer day. Today, I could almost feel spring coming, but I think it is still a fairly long way off.

A friend stopped by with persimmon cookies--very yummy, so I must ask for her recipe!

Reading one of my favorite blogs, Seraphic Singles, yesterday, I realized that I had missed the feast of St. Agnes. January 21 is her feast day and my maternal grandmother was named for her, so I have her name as my middle name. A twelve year old virgin martyr is a little bit difficult to live up to when one is a teenager--but since that time is long past, I guess I can mellow a bit toward St. Agnes, who has caught the eye of poets and artists for many centuries.

How many Catholic women have been named Agnes down through the ages? Not as many as have been named Mary or Ann or probably Martha. Still it would be quite a few. And how many Catholic women, entering religious orders, took the name Agnes? Quite a few more. My favorite religious sister, and one of my favorite teachers, during my grade school years was named Sister Catherine Agnes. She taught catechism in my fourth, fifth and sixth grade years. She prepared me for confirmation and fostered my love of reading. I remember her with fondness and hope she is well--most probably in the next life now.