Twilight on the Bridge of Flowers

Twilight is a time when colors take on a special element of magic.  I turned my flash off on my camera to capture this in between time (except for the picture above).  We spent a lovely holiday weekend in our garden then with our folks who came to visit from PA.  Above are photographs that were taken Sunday evening on the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA.  I believe the bridge was an old railroad bridge that was transformed into gardens in the 1930's.

Find the River

There's no one left to take the lead,
But I tell you and you can see
We're closer now than light years to go.
Pick up here and chase the ride.
The river empties to the tide.
Fall into the ocean.

The river to the ocean goes,
A fortune for the undertow.
None of this is going my way.
There is nothing left to throw
Of Ginger, lemon, indigo,
Coriander stem and rows of hay.
Strength and courage overrides
The privileged and weary eyes
Of river poet search naivete.
Pick up here and chase the ride.
The river empties to the tide.
All of this is coming your way.

 

 

I love the poetry of this song and it's lovely melancholy. The river is a muse of mine... imagery, the feel, meaning and metaphor. The lyric including the luscious names of plants and fruit makes for something beautiful. Like the sound of these words, I can smell and taste them: Bergamot and Vetiver...Ginger, Lemon, Indigo...Coriander stem and rows of hay.

 

"Me my thoughts are flower strewn, Ocean storm, bayberry moon."

Lilac Wine

It's that intoxicating time of year again...

My senses are filled with sweet and heady scents, colors and feelings during these misty spring days.  I think I'll go cut a bouquet of Lilacs to bring in the house right now.  I'm off to sing and make music with friends tonight and as always, I'm thinking about music... "Lilac Wine" is a song I sing with Josh from time to time.  I love Nina Simone's elegant version. 

It's Mother's Day, May and time to work in the garden!

May is here! Hooray!  Tomorrow is Mother's Day...Hooray!  Happy Mother's Day to the Moms out there!

I've been so full, working on plans for my trip. I began a campaign on Indie Go Go to fund raise for my artistic pursuits,education and travel plans. I am out in the gardens working hard.  This burst of activity may explain my quiet blog.

I'm getting back into the grove of gardening and I've been putting in full days. My body is feeling it.  That tired, physically worked all day feeling.  Which is so good... so is the sunshine, the sound of bird songs, gentle winds, and rain drops.  I feel pretty lucky to work outside all day most days of the week.

I had a lovely visit to Pennsylvania a week ago.  Although Mother's Day is tomorrow, I got to see and spend good time with my mother, mother-in-law and my grandmother which was all a real treat. I also got to spend time with my dad and father-in-law and my aunt and grandfather.  My plans for my ancestral, folk art trip this summer has inspired interesting conversations about family.  I looked at pictures with my Grandmother Stella who was born in Poland and moved to America at thirteen. She returned to Poland in 1985 on a trip and she shared images of places and relatives I will meet and see when over there. Images of great-great grandmothers and great-great-aunts who are no longer with us were in the mix of photos as well as images of cousins, as kids, that I will see when I am in Krakow.  One evening my mother pulled out old photos of her family which were nice to look through and prompted more stories and connections to be shared from mother to daughter. Stories were shared about my tug boat captain great grandfather, my English ancestry from northern England, my mothers' grandmother, grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins who I never really knew. My husband's grandfather and mother were excited to share stories about Grandfather Morris' familial connections to Poland. 

My grandmother and I spent time in her Philadelphia row home garden. She pulled some wildflowers by their roots for me to take home and plant on my land. I remember sitting out there in lawn chairs as a kid and playing with my cousins. Grandmom Stella still loves to garden and at 86 spends time out there most warm, dry days. She likes to weed, rake and admire her flowers.  Her tulips are beautiful as well as her primrose. She keeps a statue of Mary in the garden to look over her plants. Last summer she came up to my place here in Massachusetts and loved looking at my garden.  The garlic that I harvested inspired her to plant her own garlic last fall which is now growing. She gives me a garlic report on every time we talk on the phone. All the photos were taken last week at Grandmom Stella's garden.