I'm in love with spring in the South. Where I grew up, in northern Wisconsin, spring is a mushy, muddy, wet, cold, season with the occasional teaser day of warmth, followed by by record-breaking blizzards. I love my home state, and my hometown, and miss it most of the time. With maybe one exception - I almost never go to visit in spring. Funny story. First time I took my husband (then boyfriend) home to see my family, we drove up from North Carolina. It was spring, and by the time we got close to home, there was a monster snow-storm raging across the Northwoods, semi-trucks flipped into snow-banks, almost everything closed down. It took a loooong time to finish the last two hours of the drive - or what should have been two hours. I'm pretty sure my husband thought I'd grown up in the wild wastelands of the north. It took several years for me to talk him into visiting again. The next visit was during summer, and I believe his opinion of the "Big Woods" was greatly improved.
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| (wildflower, more widely known as a weed) |
So, I have a healthy and well-rounded appreciation of springtime in the South, with the smell of honeysuckle wafting through the air, birds flitting and singing and visiting the feeder, and everything in bloom under the warm rays of the sun. Which brings me to the post today, in which I share pictures of plants seen in bloom around the yard. If you live up north, then you may be experiencing feelings of hostility toward me right now. Yes, I can feel it through the internet. I'm sensitive like that. But wait, keep reading....
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| (dianthus - looks like someone took pinking shears to them, doesn't it?) |
I can still remember my first spring in the South, and the sudden realization that all the pretty blooming pictures you always see in calendars aren't a story-book fantasy. They're REAL. That's what spring is like, if you don't live up north. But, then, spring is followed by summer, and a southern summer is sort of equivalent to a northern spring, isn't it? Sliding into the seat of your parked car is like entering the core of a nuclear reactor. So, if you live up north, our roles will be reversed in three months. Yes, it's summer that I most miss Wisconsin, and swimming in lakes of pure fresh water, and small-town fairs and festivals, and cool starry nights. But wait... I'm wandering.... Are you still with me? Good. Here's your reward for making it to the end:
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| (wild violet) |
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| (azaleas) |
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| (wish I knew - another from the "wildflower" category) |
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| (and more azaleas, or perhaps rhododendron?) |
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| (wild blackberry) |
And that's all for now.
Best wishes,
Teresa
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