I knew that one of these days, I would have to apprise you of how things stood with my garden. I thought that, after a while, it would be conspicuously obvious that I wasn't really taking pictures of or discussing how the season was progressing in my own little plot.
I'm just sure you would have noticed.
Finally, on the day that I composed my last post, inspiration hit.
It had been pantingly, summery warm the day before but ....
.... that morning, I awoke to gently pattering rain and my radio playing "The Lark Ascending" by Vaughn Williams. All morning long, in fact, Vermont Public Radio was playing classical music that featured trilling flutes and soaring violins. Everything from, "Summer" from the Four Seasons by Vivaldi, to a modern piano piece about children playing in the garden.
My thoughts followed suit.
Finally, I heard the radio announcer confess!
He said that they were playing music in anticipation of summer.
It was what followed next that gave me the inspiration for this post.
The weather report!
After our warmth basking day before and our morning rain, it was going to turn mild in the afternoon. That night would be clearing skies, followed by a pleasant day but, becoming increasingly, very windy. It all ended with fog last evening and a good freeze last night.
It must be April!
It looks like April!
It made me think of a song.
No! Not Sting singing, "That's my baby! She can be all four seasons in one day!"
A similar song, though.
A lovely spring song that is sung by the Cambridge Singers.
It's a poem really.
(taken from a Welsh poem, in fact.)
My Sweetheart's like Venus
My sweetheart's like Venus, she's lovely and light.She's fairer than blackthorn, she's slim and she's white.There's no one is like her, from far or from near,It's truth I am telling for all men to hear.
Her form has the splendour of straight growing trees;her hair like the corn that is stirred in the breeze,her eyebrows like gossamer that hangs by the door;If only she'd love me, I'd ask nothing more.
My Sweetheart she loves like a shower of rain;now clouded, now weeping, now smiling again.But she who loves many is left without one.A faithful true lover has one love alone.
I love the changeability of April.
April ~ Spring ~ England ~ Gardens ~ and Love!
These are all fully tumbled together inextricably and inexplicably in my mind.
Now, for the ironic twist.
As I was trying to think of how to illustrate these thoughts and the freshness and lightness of my world lately, I settled on these lovely objects.
They represent exactly how I feel nowadays.
They, too, were wedding gifts from dear friends who knew how to read me like a book.
In fact, the plate was from a very gracious lady who had a beautiful clothing store next door to Rose Arbour. (Rose Arbour is the tea room that I moved to Vermont to open and manage and which moved me in right next door to Tom - my [now] husband.) This lady was the one I whispered the latest news of our budding relationship too.
The pretty set of Kate Greenaway pictures were a gift from her associate and the third co-conspirator of the time. This gift was another case of make do and mend. She bought this damaged antique children's book and salvaged the prints and had them framed.
Ahh! You should have seen us in September, trying to figure out how I could give Tom the "just good friends" talk when he hadn't even made any advances yet! You should have heard us in November, figuring out how to get him to hold my hand! You should have heard us in January, discussing if he was THE ONE for me. You should have heard us in February trying to figure out how to let Tom know that I was quite open to a proposal. YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD US TALKING ABOUT RINGS and DRESSES and FLOWERS and MUSIC and GUESTS and FOOD and NEW HOMES!
The point is,
all of these things and thoughts came together separately.
They're connection didn't dawn on me until they - the plate, the poem, the spring and the pretty pictures - were being photographed.
SO
I am compelled to say,
(at the risk of extreme soppiness-
it is spring, after all)
For all of it's charm,
I surely hope that I am not as fickle of a lover as April is to us!
I, for my part, know that I am married to the Rock of Gibralter,
Who (speaking of very large rocks) is, at this very moment, outside working on our stone steps and wall.
Funny how everything works together.
Ah, Spring!
Happy Birthday, Hun, a wee bit late!
Love,
Katy Noelle
Maybe April is the month which shows us best what life is... sometimes there are sunny, sometimes rainy days; sometimes warm, sometimes cold... I like it as well. And nature and life are beautiful at every moment :)
ReplyDeleteBest greetings, Marjolijn
Dear Kathy Noelle,
ReplyDeleteDo I read it correctly (in very small print) is it your husbands birthday today....and is he working for you in the garden?! Lucky girl!Congratulations!
Love your story about April. Probably because I am an April girl myself ;-). The poem is sweet and so are the Kate Greenaway pictures. I must have Kates 'Book of days' somewhere in my bookcase....
I so enjoyed the fact you had a tearoom. I can almost see you walking around serving tea and sweet treats. Now it dawns to me where you got your recipes from at your tea party ;-)!!
You were so right about Edith, Jeanne and me finding each other, but you forgot someone....you!!
Have a Happy Birthday!
Lieve groet, Madelief
Dear Katy Noelle, Now, what EXACTLY is one to believe? Jane Austen herself would have been proud to have written this plot whereby the hapless young clergyman meets, unwittingly, the demure KN over a pot of tea and a Bath bun in the Rose Arbour tearoom in fashionable Vermont. Which way will her favours go? To the church or to the dashing officer of the regiment presently encamped in town?
ReplyDeleteAhah! The pastor pounces as she plays the piano. The match is made.
What a lovely posting, Katy. Here in Maryland we have had hardly any rain this past 3 weeks, but, OH, what beautiful flowers are blooming - LOVE your blog...Cassandra ♥
ReplyDeleteDear Edith,
ReplyDeleteit was, actually, a bit like you say. I came to town very happy to be single and absorbed in my new business. A single lady in town and a single pastor on the loose .... the settled ladies were having a field day. So much excitement!
I was going to go to the congregational church which is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Rose Arbour. I had never been to [Tom's] denomination of church before and was a little scared to go - even though I could see it perfectly framed out of the parlor's bay window. Fate intervened and I was late that Sunday. I thought, "if I *drive* to that church (the whole 100 yards), I will just make it in time!" That's how I met him for the first time. Rose Arbour was on the corner of the one way street that the parsonage was on. (For all intensive purposes, "next door".) I was surrounded! He came to tea, as a good pastor and neighbor should, and, well, as they say, of course, "the rest was history".
Almost simultaneously with this unfolding story, a book came out with, almost, the same plot! "At Home in Mitford", by Jan Karon. There were many parts in that book that made me feel a bit like someone had been watching over my shoulder!
Hi, Katy Noelle-
ReplyDeleteI´m an April girl like Madelief and I felt the same like her :-)
Your lovestory is so romantic. My brain is working hard- in spite of using a translator- but it doesn´t translate exactely... But I love, what I understand :-))
I love, that you have respect of all things you have- of all things and persons you meet.
You take care of all- so wonderful. In this time it´s a really rare character!
Enjoy the day-
Love- Ines
Hi Katy Noelle,
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely post. I really do love your first image. So sweet, soft and beautiful. Hope you're having a grand week, my friend. xoxo