Tulips

April 14—today I planted three new roses in my rose garden—one Chicago Peace in mom’s little garden and a Pink Peace and a First Prize on the opposite side of the garden, by the robin bath. I’m planning on filling this space behind the roses, under the lilac tree, with one or two bushes… I’m already living my dream of creating a little jungle all around me. 

April 16—today, I planted two Quaking Aspens that soon will be willowing atop the back fence. All the rains have left and the sun has come out spilling new buds and life from sunshine filled pockets… 

April 24—this is the time of the tulips, the time of the awakening of the earth and the time for which my heart waits for all year around. Spring! How fresh and renewed the earth wakes up every morning, how glorious the light what shrouds the garden, blessing it from above in hundreds of tiny petals. My heart is overjoyed; my spirit swirls in morning breezes and bird songs. I go to the garden and my eyes cannot be still; contemplating, searching, drinking in all the glories and blessings the new day has to offer. 

The tulips I planted last autumn have all bloomed and are filling the garden splendidly with their pastel magic. I cannot describe in perfect feelings the joy they bring to my heart; the beauty, the silent blessings. Such delicacy and beauty in each bloom, that I have decided to plant more this fall and have filled with them that special space by the fountain I had been saving for the Boscobel roses for so long. In between the tulips, I have planted petunias; spreading petunias that will soon fill the space when the tulips are done, so that now, instead of roses, I will have a more compacted lower beds of beauty, that I am very much pleased with. I’m very comfortable with my decision, specially because the tree behind the fountain is growing rapidly and that area will be quite crowded soon. 

 

The crabapple tree is shedding its lovely cranberry colored petals and the garden floors is carpeted with them, and it looks as if the soil has turned dark pink all of a sudden.

 

It is such a great feeling to feel in total control of your garden, as it is with this one, and as lovely and lush as my southerner garden was, I cannot say that I love this one any less. I know exactly what I want to see here and what I don't.  There’s no weed nor petal growing without my permission; no wildflower without my consent.  

 

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

 

“She turned to the sunlight
    And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
    "Winter is dead.”
― A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young 

 
 

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"...
"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden.

 

What a beautiful thing!  To be alive beneath tulip blossoms…

The gypsy caravan...

I've been working on decorating our gypsy caravan ever since the day we brought it home... doing this doing that making sure it is cozy enough pretty enough gypsy enough.... making sure is just the way we like it to feel and be... so yes, the gypsy witch has been having a lot of fun lately doing just that! 

But don’t you be alarmed by what you may see at first glance… cause things are only really good and pretty and cozy and colorful as can be around here… just saying!

 

In the little kitchen, the first thing I did was to remove the old fashioned and always annoying type of blinds that were covering the window and replaced them with something more feminine and way prettier… a lovely piece of lace sheer enough to let all that wonderful sunshine and light in at all times…

We equipped our gypsy caravan with pretty mugs, pots and all sizes of plates and kitchen things!

...then, went to set up the most fanciful of tables and sat down to eat, drink coffee, read and write on our computers and more! 

I also brought in some of my potted plants too, because even a gypsy trailer must have plants in it!

A colorful tablecloth, some decorative pillows, an old lace shawl for a window covering and everything look so pretty and cozy... even from the outside!  Oh and the fairylights! Can't live without them!

I wanted a new backsplash in our little kitchen… so I opted for this lovely Moroccan Encaustic Peel and Stick Tile Stickers. 

I love it so much!  The change was immediate!

Owls to follow me everywhere! 

Stir, taste, repeat! 

In our bedroom I tried to create a little oasis... or a chabola gitana or a gypsy hut or a cozy nest or all of the above...

 

Except for the new heavy blanket for cold nights, I mainly used things I already had… mandalas, decorative pillows, fur throw, fairy lights and cute chandeliers…  

Oh and I wallpapered all cupboards and doors...

 

I kept changing and rearranging things around until I was satisfied... al least for now!

 

Can I show you more later?

Oh I will if you let me!

In the mean time...

Dear Diary

April 4—I continued on planting today.  Another Red Twig Dogwood was planted along the fence… one which I forgot to plant yesterday and which is part of the natural barricade I’m trying to create in yet another attempt to close up the gaps in the fence between us and our backdoor neighbors.  I also relocated some of the vinca that was growing rampant in that space where our trailer sits, over to that bare place under the Quaking aspen and behind the swing. I also realized this morning that the Burning Bush I planted yesterday was placed in the wrong location, and thus it had to be removed quickly to have that space saved for a large tree… because, that’s what should go there—another large tree to conceal our neighbors house and make my own sort of little jungle around me… 

I don’t think I could ever rest or find my inner peace until the day I don't have to see that two-story house looming across my garden any more... it takes away so much beauty from the beauty I try to create!  And those two windows-like eyes overlooking down at us all day long and all night long... I feel naked and bare.  I'm also lacking the peace and privacy I seek in my sacred space... our backdoor neighbors are always outside; sitting around not doing anything, not working not planting not cleaning, just sitting around listening and watching while their two dogs yap like crazy when they see me working in the garden through the gaps. 

Why don't these people like trees and shrubs and why would they not plant them and plant something along their side of the fence to hide us from their view and why is this such a burden to me and why is my soul so unsettled by these insignificances?  I am upset with myself for this. For feeling this way. For not liking those dogs, for not wanting to lift my worship off the ground or off the fence to a higher ground where love abounds. “Leave me alone" is not a good thing. We were made to be each other’s keepers. And I need to learn how to let love lead.  Even if I feel deprived of the privacy my soul craves... 

There’s a momma Robin plotting on nesting on the climbing rose outside our bedroom window. Every morning she’d come by, stand on the iron support and look around for hours trying to figure out, I guess, what branch suites her best… 

April 9—after all those long months of inactivity, finally today I decided this was the day I would go out and start my jogging routine… So I went out, turn around the corner, and came right back home… It was so cold and so windy that I had to come back and hide in the warmth of my nest…. 

Tough winds blew harsh and cold against my face, tugging at my hair and prickling up my skin …what a disenchantment that was… and what long long winter this had been!  The worse thing is, thinking that it is already nice enough and sunny enough to start planting and doing all the things you enjoy, and then realizing that nothing is as you thought it was… and you’d have to wait some more.

Wait wait wait… and who has time to wait anyway when life is so short and warm days so scarce?  Around here, it is usually around Mother’s Day when people start working on their flowerpots and plantings, because the weather is so deceiving… this kills me and it kills my gardener’s heart.  Sometimes everything seems so fleeting.  Time is so fleeting; days come and go so fast that I can’t even begin to savor them by the time another one is gone.  I just don't have time to wait.  

April 10—despicable despicable Winter Winds, I ask thee, why are thou still around here when my heart sayeth “spring”! … away, thou rag, thou remnant, I tell thee, thou marred my spirit.

And thus, it’s been so cold around here lately, and winds have been blowing so bitterly cold that even birds have stopped mating and nest building seasons has taken a sojourn… twice I tried to go out to the garden today and twice I had to run back in… my body had been acclimatizing to warmer temperatures for a while, and now it’s like going back to winter overnight.   That’s how is around here—unpredictable and unreliable as far as weather goes.  It is always more cold days than warm days.