Autumnal bursts of spring

They have appeared, those autumn crocuses that never cease to amaze me. And so I have decided to share this post once more (with a new title). 

Copyright © by DM Denton

There is a memory here, planted moments before it was too late.

It’s not what it seems. These are not the spring variety, waking from frigid dreams, wooed by what is to come, green showing warily yet buds often opening too soon.

These are not flowers fraught with anticipation. They’ve already been revealed, lost their clothes in the crowd, withdrawn to regrow and regroup before winter. These latent lilies are a law unto themselves, having done it all before, bending this way and that, exploding unashamed into sunshine and tears, inviting their withering surroundings to dance before the mystery of dying.

For here is immortality.  Everywhere.  And so the generous age offered a handful of corms for drilling into years she might or might not have ahead, too deep to be forgotten.  

Writing note: The autumn crocus actually isn’t a crocus—it’s in the lily family (crocuses are in the iris family), flowering in the fall. Autumn crocuses send up their leaves in the spring but they die back by summer, the flower stalks rising and blooming quite indecently in fall. Some common names are: naked ladies and mysteria. Mine were given me many years ago by an older neighbor friend of my late mom’s, a farmer’s widow, who was fiercely independent as well as extremely intelligent and artistic, living alone into her 80’s (no one knows for sure, as she would never tell her age…) in a large Frank Lloyd Wright style house where she had a very wild but wonderful perennial garden. Subsequent owners have dug it all up and replaced it too neatly with shrubs and lawns.

Wishing everyone

a blessed autumn!

©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Saturday Short: Simply Raking

Copyright 2014 by DM Denton

The light was low,

shadows soft,

layers of leaves

gathered

with my thoughts;

no wind

to blow

them away.

~ an oldie by DM Denton

Copyright 2011 by DM Denton

1. Out of clutter, find simplicity
2. From discord, find harmony
3. In the middle of a difficulty lies opportunity

~ Albert Einstein, Three Rules of Work

 

©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Nature Insight: In a Cold Climate

Am working on a new post, but, in the meantime, something to help you pause and reflect, first shared a few years back …

 

With shorter days come slower nights,

more time to settle for solitude.

Love is gone and is here still,

more in the heart than can be lived.

For all there is a season and this is mine,

evergreen, and woven into wintery cobwebs.

Somehow I resist the temptation to brush them away.

 

I prefer winter…when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.

Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.

Andrew Wyeth, American Painter (1917 – 2009)

©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Fruit-fall-ness (Re-post)

When the leaves turn colors the wind turns cold and brings them down. But I’ve already raked that over, finding fruit among what’s fallen.

Copyright 2011 by DM Denton

©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Whack, Wallop, Whack!

The Thrush
for the moment
without a song,
walked the path
with a purpose
she had all along.

She meant
to crack that snail
so hard to crack;
who would’ve thought
all she should do
was give it a whack.

Whack, wallop, whack!
Whack, wallop, whack!
Such strength to pretend;
Whack, wallop, whack!
Stand back, stand back!
Have a go again!

The thrush
for the moment
found a new song,
flying off with
a meal she knew
she had all along.

Copyright by DM Denton 2014

An old one with a new title!

 

©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Nature Insight: Bog Chorus (Repost)

The frogs are singing again, and as I haven’t come up with anything new this week, here is a timely repost!

If I could sing
all day, all night,
then being
nobody
would be alright.

Copyright 2012 by DM Denton

If I could send
a clear high note,
then I might
keep my head
and heart afloat.

If I could be
content to bring
one more voice,
all might muse
a hope of spring.

I take a leap
though just a frog,
not for praise
but the mud
in my cool bog.

Inspired by the frogs singing in my vernal pond and Emily Dickinson’s poem:

And please check out Grace Pieces recent ‘re-write’ of this Emily Dickinson poem:

“I’m Somebody!  Who Are You?”

©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Repost: Winter Flowering

Copyright 2012 by DM Denton

By the window

there’s a pot

of Paperwhites

as sweet

to the scent as

they are

to the sight;

one then two,

three,

even four

and five of a kind

with their eyes

so bright,

some looking out

and

some looking in.


Hope this brings a little brightness and sweet flowering to you day.

As well as being a repost from last February, this is also a sampling from my book ‘A Friendship with Flowers’ that will be available in the near future.



©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Nature Insight: January Blooms

Copyright 2012 by DM Denton

The snow has shrunk back
into the distance of the woods,
a receding wave
of winter
that will roll over us again.

Too early to rise,
a posy of
camouflaged courage
will soon sleep
and wait,
perhaps to dream
once more.




This picture was taken this morning, 1/13/13, probably the earliest I’ve seen snowdrops in my garden. Especially considering the frigid weather and heavy snow cover we had since Christmas. Today is quite the opposite – it is around 60 degrees fahrenheit!

©Artwork, writing and photography unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Repost: In a Cold Climate

Originally posted December 2011 …

With shorter days come slower nights, more time to settle for solitude.

Love is gone and is here still, more in the heart than can be lived.

For all there is a season and this is mine, evergreen, and woven into wintery cobwebs.

Somehow I resist the temptation to brush them away.

I prefer winter…when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.

Andrew Wyeth, American Painter (1917 – 2009)


Thanks to Mindfulbalance for passing on this quote in the post Our Roots are Deep, Despite the Wind.


©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.

Nature Insight (Repost): Crocus at Last (and Forever)

They have appeared again, those autumn crocuses that never cease to amaze me. And so (I have to admit, because I am a little pressed for time, with apologies for all the blogs I am behind on visiting) I have decided to share this post once more. I have added a photograph, taken just this morning, after some heavy rain, so these autumnal burst of spring look a little bedraggled but no less magical. 

Copyright 2011 by DM Denton

There is a memory here, planted moments before it was too late.

It’s not what it seems. These are not the spring variety, waking from frigid dreams, wooed by what is to come, green showing warily yet buds often opening too soon.

These are not flowers fraught with anticipation. They’ve already been revealed, lost their clothes in the crowd, withdrawn to regrow and regroup before winter. These latent lilies are a law unto themselves, having done it all before, bending this way and that, exploding unashamed into sunshine and tears, inviting their withering surroundings to dance before the mystery of dying.

For here is immortality.  Everywhere.  And so the generous age offered a handful of corms for drilling into years she might or might not have ahead, too deep to be forgotten.  

Writing note: The autumn crocus actually isn’t a crocus—it’s in the lily family (crocuses are in the iris family), flowering in the fall. Autumn crocuses send up their leaves in the spring but they die back by summer, the flower stalks rising and blooming quite indecently in fall. Some common names are: naked ladies and mysteria. Mine were given me many years ago by an older neighbor friend of my mom’s, Sue Drilling, a farmer’s wife, who was fiercely independent as well as extremely intelligent and artistic, living alone into her 80’s (no one knows for sure, as she would never tell her age…) in a large Frank Lloyd Wright style house where she had a very wild but wonderful perennial garden. The new owners have since dug it all up and replaced it too neatly with shrubs and lawns, less to care for and enjoy.

Wishing everyone a blessed autumn!

©Artwork and writing, unless otherwise indicated, are the property of Diane M Denton. Please request permission to reproduce or post elsewhere with a link back to bardessdmdenton. Thank you.