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05.17.2007 :: Warble me now for joy of lilac-time (Walt Whitman)
There are, here in my living room and kitchen:
13 pairs of shoes
4 mountains of laundry
5 empty water bottles
3 empty pizza boxes (boxen, if you are a Brian Regan fan. If you're not, WHY are you not??)
2 comforter, sheets and pillow sets with no safe spot to call home
1 cat, miserable because of the mess
2 kids home from college?
Priceless!
~~~
Pictures shoot! (sadly, not a picture of knitting. No stitches being knit means no knitting pictures. It's a math fact. Can't mess with facts!)
Lilacs are blooming! I wish this was a smelloblog. Or smell flickr. (click any photo to flickr-en)
Can you smell 'em?
I know that dandelions are not a gardeners friend but I can't help but think of the bouquets of them that the kids used to bring me.
Afternoon light shining down through the trees looks very fine indeed.
And the whole time I was out having a floral photo shoot? SOMEONE was meowing at me through the window.
When are you coming in to feed me? SCHEEZ!
Warble for Lilac Time
by: Walt Whitman
Warble me now for joy of lilac-time, (returning in reminiscence,)
Sort me O tongue and lips for Nature's sake, souvenirs of earliest summer,
Gather the welcome signs, (as children with pebbles or stringing shells,)
Put in April and May, the hylas croaking in the ponds, the elastic air,
Bees, butterflies, the sparrow with its simple notes,
Blue-bird and darting swallow, nor forget the high-hole flashing his
golden wings,
The tranquil sunny haze, the clinging smoke, the vapor,
Shimmer of waters with fish in them, the cerulean above,
All that is jocund and sparkling, the brooks running,
The maple woods, the crisp February days and the sugar-making,
The robin where he hops, bright-eyed, brown-breasted,
With musical clear call at sunrise, and again at sunset,
Or flitting among the trees of the apple-orchard, building the nest
of his mate,
The melted snow of March, the willow sending forth its yellow-green sprouts,
For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it
and from it?
Thou, soul, unloosen'd--the restlessness after I know not what;
Come, let us lag here no longer, let us be up and away!
O if one could but fly like a bird!
O to escape, to sail forth as in a ship!
To glide with thee O soul, o'er all, in all, as a ship o'er the waters;
Gathering these hints, the preludes, the blue sky, the grass, the
morning drops of dew,
The lilac-scent, the bushes with dark green heart-shaped leaves,
Wood-violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence,
Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere,
To grace the bush I love--to sing with the birds,
A warble for joy of returning in reminiscence.
Posted by Sandy on 05.17.2007 AT 05:47 PM
Comments
Oh sigh!
I live in the land of No-Lilacs now, I am stuck sniffing candles and looking at pictures.
Thanks for the pictures.
Posted by: Alissa on 05.18.2007 AT 10:19 PM
My kitchen sounds like yours! It's been 9 months without the shoes, dirty clothes piled in the laundry room and towels left on the bathroom floor. It sure was a quiet 9 months around here and like you, I'm loving having her back home for the summer!
Wow, I can almost smell those lilacs. They don't grow down here evidently cause I don't remember seeing any since leaving RI. Enjoy them for me.
Sheri in GA
Posted by: Sheri on 05.18.2007 AT 09:12 PM
Absolutely Beautiful pictures!!! I would LOVE to have lilacs in my yard!!!
Posted by: Crazy For Yarn In Alabama on 05.18.2007 AT 05:22 PM
Gorgeous stuff!
Posted by: Cara on 05.18.2007 AT 04:54 PM
Ahhhh ..........lilacs and Whitman. Can't get better than that. I planted a lilac bush this week!
Posted by: CindyD on 05.18.2007 AT 12:19 PM
Great pictures, I have a stupid, non knitting question. How do you get your photo's to upload from Flickr? I have a F account and have pictures posted, but when I try and upload them, I get that lovely box with an "X" in the corner. Call me challenged. Do I need a Pro account?
Posted by: Angie on 05.18.2007 AT 11:38 AM
Sandy, GREAT pictures.
Posted by: claudia on 05.18.2007 AT 11:35 AM
Ah, that's a wonderful poem! Just what I needed on a day when spring shows us her less attractive side... ;-)
Posted by: Beth S. on 05.18.2007 AT 10:46 AM
Oh there is something about that poem and the lilacs that makes me want to read The Wind In The Willows. I love lilacs, I love to put them all over my house. And yes, even the dandelions had a special place of honor in a teeny vase on the window because they were gifted to me by a wee child. *sigh* I miss those bouquets.
Posted by: Tracey on 05.18.2007 AT 10:32 AM
Oh, man, I can almost smell those lilacs through my screen! I love love love lilacs, and am a Very Sad Girl that they don't grow well where I live.
Love the poem, too -- Whitman is one of my absolute favorites
Posted by: chris on 05.18.2007 AT 10:03 AM
Oh, I'm all a-sniffy from that poem. It touches me in all the right places. Your photos are gorgeous. We're off in a couple of hours, across the Big Divide (sort of). :)
Posted by: Norma on 05.18.2007 AT 08:37 AM
Ah - sunlight through trees - has always been one of my "favourite things" - ever since I was about 7.
Posted by: Anne on 05.18.2007 AT 07:23 AM
Love your lilacs - and I remember those dandelion (and clover) bouquets very well!
Posted by: DebbieB on 05.18.2007 AT 07:17 AM
Wonderful photos! Your flowers are just beautiful, even the lowly dandelion.
Posted by: Jane on 05.17.2007 AT 11:21 PM
i ADORE the lilacs with the white edging! i've never seen that before. do you know the variety? i may be planting lilacs this year!
Posted by: minnie on 05.17.2007 AT 11:19 PM
Lovely photos! (Especially the dandelion.) The smell of lilacs came in tonight to where I was watching Grey's Anatomy. :)
Posted by: Andrea (noricum) on 05.17.2007 AT 11:10 PM
I love your lilacs! Tell the kitty he's welcome over here anytime he needs some quiet.
Posted by: Cookie on 05.17.2007 AT 08:01 PM
I have lilacs for my Eye Candy Friday tomorrow. I love the ones you have with the white edges!
Posted by: Carole on 05.17.2007 AT 07:54 PM
A very fitting poem! Love it. We used to make wreaths for our heads with dandelions and matching necklaces when I was a child. Lilacs are one of my favorite flowers- it blooms around my birthday here and as a kid it adorned the handle of my Easter basket every year. Beuatiful photos!
Posted by: Manise on 05.17.2007 AT 06:18 PM
Hell, my house looks like that all the time - I can't imagine what it'll look like once Dobby goes to college and comes back with piles of stuff ;o)
Brian Regan is HILARIOUS!! The Staring at the Sun game!! ;o))
Posted by: JessaLu on 05.20.2007 AT 09:17 AM