magnolias, etc.

I love the magnificence, the grandiosity of a blooming magnolia. But I'm glad there isn't one here, on farmette lands. I lived with one in the past and I learned its seasonal performance: stunning flowers, appearing briefly, very briefly, followed by fallen brown petals. Large leaves that in autumn turn brown and crinkly. For gardens with limited placement opportunities it's a space hog. Nevertheless, it's really beautiful when in full bloom.

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For most Americans, the stress levels here are high right now. Should I list all that might cause you to break out in sweat? The demise and destruction: of support for science, of jobs, of freedom of speech, of research, of freedom to walk without fear, of financial security, of international solidarity -- let me just stop. The list is too long.

I catch myself looking for calming devices. (No, I cannot stop reading about it -- when you are immersed in this destruction, details become important.) I have a few that typically work for me: labor in the garden, take a nature walk, especially with Ed, pick up a book that totally pulls me in -- these are the obvious ones. Today I used all three.

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Oddly enough, I've had a number of thoughts recently about my mother (who died in September of last year). She would have been besides herself with fear and anxiety had she lived into this year. Perhaps it's good that she died just before all this happened. 100 days of the current administration would have killed her for sure (she was very politically engaged until the last half year of her life).

My mother did many good things in her life, but providing a good model of a path forward into senior years was not one of them. She made sure I understood that anxiety and a diminished life would be mine very soon, as inevitable as taxes. You could say that I spend a lot of time teaching myself a different strategy -- one that has to erase over time the bleak images she painted for me, daily, for the past few years.

Which brings me back to magnolia viewing, gardening, and books. Strategies all!

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Morning viewing of the flower fields: I'm still focused on the daffodils, but not for long. They are April's flower.

I see that the tulips are really coming into their own now. I love tulips -- who doesn't? But their total life span is short. Most should be dug out after their first and only bloom. That's a real bother! I always want to take the chance of leaving them in for a possible rebloom next year (because some of them do do that) and what I get then are scraggly leaves the following spring. Too, animals love to chomp on tulip heads, so I need to spray them regularly with hot pepper powders or else I wake up to empty stalks. Decapitated! Still, I cannot resist planting at least a few pockets of them. They're just so beautiful!

After the non-storms of yesterday, we do have cooler temps today. Breakfast is inside. (I bake yet another batch of granola -- Bircher Muesli will have to wait until this addiction of ours passes!) 

And then I wait for the lilies to arrive. Fed Ex is proving to be a challenge! They were promised last Saturday. Didn't come. Then Monday. Didn't come. And now today -- early evening and still not here.  But I do have a box of sweat peas to put in! I love these guys and always find room for them in the garden.

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I suggest to Ed a walk in the Arboretum. I love that place especially now, in early May (we are almost in early May!) and then again in mid October. The colors of spring here (and later, of autumn) are remarkable. I'd read that it's almost time for their lilacs to burst into bloom. And it's true, we found a few that are just opening up. But what took the cake today were the magnolias.

Well, the crabs were pretty magnificent too.

But the magnolias were the show stoppers!

Unfortunately, Ed is at a very important point in his machine design work and so his phone went off pretty early into our walk. I left him on a bench and continued on my own.

Into a forest with a canopy of delicate greens. Incredible!

And then we exit, together... by the magnolias.

 

 

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I have a glass of Negroni Sbagliato before dinner (with sparkling wine instead of gin). In celebration of April 29th! (What's that all about? Listen, reading through the news today and coming out sane at the end calls for a celebration.) It is a sinful pleasure -- one that I know I should lay to rest, along with red meats (which is easy), and croissants (which is not easy). And on some days I'm as virtuous as a person hell bent on living to 100. But not on April 29th, 2025. The day deserves this special treat as I wait for my lilies to arrive. Delicious! With an open book at the side -- a fabulous Irish mystery. Escapist? Oh yeah!

with love...