I may need to change the pic at the top of my blog soon. This kinda sorta might possibly could mean spring (I had to qualify the hell out of that prediction since TN in March is extremely unpredictable). The strong weekend rain beat the buttercups down, but they were back up yesterday. And they are beautiful, if I do say so myself.
In the last stanza of Wordsworth's "Daffodils" he speaks of the value of such scenes to the "inward eye." Before film cameras and digital pixelated images, one could, by using his powers of memory and imagination, conjure up the beauty again. We gained something from those devices, but we may have lost something, too.
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Your daffodils are the best sign yet that spring is indeed coming. There is a lot to be said for solitude. It's great for clearing out the cobwebs of the mind.
ReplyDeleteYou're the WINNAH, Dan! The first Spring post! Wear it well in its awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteAh, daffodils... so beautiful and so fraught with promise. Your pictures reminded me of one of my favorite memories of Ol' Blighty, which was ALL about daffodils.
Scooney, they're still looking good, even after the rain yesterday. I also noticed some buds on the Forsythia at the end of the drive. Hope it doesn't come out to soon and get nipped. And I definitely agree with you and old Wordsworth, solitude is good for clearing the mind.
ReplyDeleteBuck, I checked out the link to that post of yours--great story. And it's close to Wordsworth's experience. He too was wandering around, "lonely as a cloud," when he came upon many, many daffodils by a lake. Here's an earlier verse that says it better than I can:
Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
Also, regarding your stay in England. We were there for 3 weeks in '87 and saw the sun twice. I think that's why the English are so big on gardens and flowers--they need some floral color to relieve the continuous drabness.
The English DO garden! Summertime in England is most wondrous... it seems the entire country is bedecked with flowers.
ReplyDeleteThe Second Mrs. Pennington and I used to love our evening summer strolls while we were there... and the gardens were a large part o' that.