THOUGHT(S) FOR THE DAY

[becke_davis]

[becke_davis]

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ... a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.  And the anticipation nurtures our dream."

-   Barbara Winkler

"Surely as cometh the Winter, I know
There are Spring violets under the snow."

These aren't violets, but still . . .
-   R. H. Newell

[KathyS]

Robert Frost:

The well was dry beside the door,

And so we went with pail and can

Across the fields behind the house

To seek the brook if still it ran;

Not loth to have excuse to go,

Because the autumn eve was fair

(Though chill), because the fields were ours,

And by the brook our woods were there.

We ran as if to meet the moon

That slowly dawned behind the trees,

The barren boughs without the leaves,

Without the birds, without the breeze.

But once within the woods, we paused

Like gnomes that hid us from the moon,

Ready to run to hiding new

With laughter when she found us soon.

Each laid on other a staying hand

To listen ere we dared to look,

And in the hush we joind to make

We heard, we knew we heard the brook.

A note as from a single place,

A slender tinkling fall that made

Now drops that floated on the pool

Like pearls, and now a silver blade.

[becke_davis]

Thank you for that, Kathy! I love Robert Frost.

[KathyS]

Robert Frost:

There was never a sound beside the wood but one,

And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.

What was it it whispered?  I knew not well myself;

Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,

Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound---

And that was why it whispered and did not speak.

It was no dream of the gift of idel hours,

Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf;

Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak

To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,

Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers

(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake,

The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows,

My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

[becke_davis]

Beautiful!!

[KathyS]

I'm left without words, my own, today.  And, no, Thank You!

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becke_davis wrote:

Beautiful!!

---

[becke_davis]

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:  it is the time for home."  
-   Edith Sitwell

[becke_davis]

Looking forward to March:

"Each leaf,
each blade of grass
vies for attention.

Even weeds
carry tiny blossoms
to astonish us."
-  Marianne Poloskey, Sunday in Spring 

[becke_davis]

[becke_davis]

Goodbyes aren't always sad - for instance, I'll be very happy when I can say goodbye to winter.

And even though I am a little sad that we're bidding farewell to B&N's Garden Book Club, it's not as if gardening will be disappearing from BN.com. We're just going to focus our garden talk at B&N's Garden Variety now:

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Garden-Variety/bg-p/Garden_Variety?cds2Pid=23223&linkid=15028...

I hope you'll stop by the Garden Variety blog and post comments. You can also click my name to send me a personal message if you have any garden questions or problems. I'd be happy to help, if I can.

Thanks to all of you who have kept me company all these years -- first at B&N's online university, then at the Garden Book Club and now at Garden Variety. It's always been my pleasure!

[becke_davis]

[becke_davis]

Looking forward to March!

"The afternoon is bright,
with spring in the air,
a mild March afternoon,
with the breath of April stirring,
I am alone in the quiet patio
looking for some old untried illusion -
some shadow on the whiteness of the wall
some memory asleep
on the stone rim of the fountain,
perhaps in the air
the light swish of some trailing gown."
-   Antonio Machado, 1875-1939
    Selected Poems, # 3, Translated by Alan S. Trueblood

[TiggerBear]

Nice photo.