Market Fresh Treasures

It’s difficult to think

anything but pleasant thoughts

when eating a homegrown tomato!

                                              ~Lewis Grizzard

saturday morning ritual

The first glimmering rays of the early morning sun filter through the pines and ancient maples — the sun is just rising over the river valley. The cool morning mist lingers a bit, but is slowly lifting across the meadow below Rose Cottage. I look out a bedroom window. A doe and her offspring — a fawn still with mottled spots — are laying in the dewy meadow grass under the cedar trees. The chickadees, gold finches and cardinals are eating breakfast seeds at the feeders outside the kitchen windows. Boisterous Bob The Rooster proclaims to the world that it is another new day, and “it’s the early bird that catches the worm — so get out of bed you sleepy head!”

saturday morning

In the summertime, it is off to the farmers market in the capitol city — truly a highlight of each Saturday. My Favorite Son, recovering at home following his surgery, joins me on the early morning market adventure to gather the freshest, local produce. How sweet it is! Soon the sights of covered market stalls come into view.

The market growers stalls are filled with a plethera of seasonal produce — brillant green romano beans, purple and yellow onions, perfect green peppers, aubergine and soft pink eggplant, lush red raspberries, golden corn with the silk still fresh and tender, heirloom Italian zucchini, yellow and green pattypan squash, crisp English cuccumbers . . . the fragrance of fresh produce is envigorating and fills the early morning air. Superb aromatherapy.

 

Friendly “good mornings’” are exchanged as the market bustles with liveliness. The rays of the early morning sun brings some of the vegetable offerings to center stage — as if under spotlights. Ah, the tomatoes!

The aroma of freshly-brewed peace coffee calls to the Favorite Son. The steamy dark roast brew fills his mug . . . a sip . . . a smile . . . and his eyes are opened! Now, we can continue on to visit some of our favorite market growers.

a few favorites

Mark Christopher brings outstanding produce and product from the Maple Leaf Orchard to the market each Saturday. In March, Mark and Sue produce gorgeous amber maple syrup in their sugarbush when the sap starts to flow in their maples just across the river. “I have the dark, full-bodied syrup this morning — your favorite,” Mark says. A half-gallon goes into the market basket . . . Who can resist?

 

Mark reminds us it will be a good late afternoon for picking pie (sour) cherries at his orchard across the river. I ask, “will your new cherry pitter from Michigan’s Upper Pennisula be working?” Mark replies wholeheartedly and is confident we will shave hours off of the hand-pitting alternative. I am eager for the cherry picking later today, and cherry jam and jelly making tomorrow.

aromatherapy

Next stop is at Dan and Meryl’s herbs. Rub and sniff the distinctive fragrance of thyme, rosemary and lemon verbena. The yellow and red flowering maples are in this week. Sniff some more aromatic herbs.

Meryl learns that the Favorite Son wants to plant another pot of herbs for his house. She excitedly asks, “how do you want to use them?” A few quick recipes are exchanged between the two. Dan shows me a few treasured culinary lavender he brought in for us from last week’s request. Rub and sniff some more. . .  sweet memories of dream trip to France return . Several of the lavender are placed in my market basket. The Favorite Son proudly carries his tray of herbs to the car.

more favorites 

We visit Otis Family Farms market stall down the same aisle for a few fresh cuts of pasture-feed meats. This stall is also one of the highlights with the flavored honey sticks — especially for those with a sweet tooth. Usually, a long line forms.

bountiful gifts

More visits to other favorite vendors. The produce is gorgeous and bountiful . . . I am a little girl in a candy store! What would you like to take home in your market basket?

 

jeweled bouquets

The crowds start to arrive. We are finished with our weekly gathering of fresh treasures. One last item on the list — a bouquet of golden jewels. Aren’t they spectacular? Which bouquet shall we take home? I think all of them would be quite lovely, don’t you?

Flowers always make people better,

happier, and more helpful; they are

sunshine, food and medicine to the soul.

                                                         ~Luther Burbank

Rose Cottage Cooks! is coming soon

We are creating some fabulous cooking adventures at Rose Cottage Gardens and Farm using mainly locally produced and seasonal foods. Watch for our first batches of “Cheery Cherry Jam” from cherries picked this afternoon at Maple Leaf Orchard. The Favorite Son will be sharing his fabulous home made pizza and other baked goods.

Hope you will like some of these tasty treats . . .and will share your recipes, joy of cooking and the fun in sharing meals with others, too! Stop by in a few days for a link to the new site.

What is your favorite recipe using market or garden fresh produce? 

We would be delighted if you shared a recipe in the comments section below.

Post note: Special thanks to the Favorite Son for all the photography at the market this morning!

Be sure to visit A Southern Daydreamer for more outdoor musings.

See what other’s are “hooked on” at Julia’s Hooked on Houses, and find out more about Melissa’s inspiring beauty at The Inspired Home.

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Heavenly French Lavender

The air was fragrant with a thousand trodden aromatic herbs,

with fields of lavender,

and the brightest roses blushing in tufts all over the meadows…

                                                                        ~Willian Cullen Bryant, 1794-1878

(Note: There are many spectacular images capturing the amazing beauty of Chateau Dumas and surrounding villages. Allow time for your computer to load the images so that you don’t miss any. This is the fifth in the series on a millinery masterclass held in southwest France. Won’t you follow along?)

sweet dreams

 The air at Chateau Dumas is heavenly. The fragrance of blooming lavender from tens of hundreds of plants thriving behind carefully manicured hedges gently floats through the 18th-century windows up to the second floor. The magnificent aromatic sends me off to sweet dreams. 

Lavender gives the illusion of feather stitches holding the Chateau garden sections together with their spectacular, billowing fronds. Indigenous to the Mediterranean region, lavender is a perennial and grows well in this perfect climate–fully enjoying the sun of the gardens and fields. The sandy, slightly alkaline soil of the Chateau’s gardens is just the environment for the lavender to thrive. I dream of having lovely gardens here in southern France…

I am mesmorized by the dreamy fragrance of the herb, and how the plant sways gently in the warm breezes. Even the bees and yellow butterflies can’t get enough of the sweet, soothing fragrance and seemingly grow dizzy from their over-indulgance in the warm, late afternoon sun. As the days progress, my muscles and bones feel soothed from the medicinal properties of the delicate, soft lavender fronds. I can not help but linger amongst the lavender each time I pass through the gardens from the Chateau to the atelier in the former carriage house. Ahh…it is simply impossible to resist rubbing the lavender between my fingers. Please,  just one more sniff of the soothing fragrance before I continue on to the studio in the carriage house. Please…

lavender wands

Serendipitously, the gracious Chatelaine de Dumas arranges for her lovely friend to spend an hour or so teaching about French lavender, and the making of Victorian-era lavender wands as her mother taught her as a very young girl. Just after the morning dew dissipates, large bunches of lavender are gathered for the lavender session later in the day. The lavender is neither damp nor dry. Rub and sniff some more.

sweet lavender “cages”

A few of us join Chrissie Marshall in the dinning room after our lunch for a lavender intermezzo from our millinery masterclass. With her lovely Scottish brogue, Chrissie recounts how her mother and father taught her how to read at four and sew at five. Throughout her childhood, they taught her many ageless crafts and traditions–including making beautiful fragrant sachets and wands using the garden’s bountiful gifts. Her voice is as soothing as the lavender.

We are eager to learn how to make lavender wands from the newly-harvested herbs from the Chateau’s gardens. The lavender wands are only made once a year when the lavender stems are soft and pliable–it is now the perfect time of the year. The suppleness of the lavender stems and flowers is vital for ease in successful wand making.

Chrissie tells us the lavender fragrance will last for several years in the wands. Even though the lavender will dry, the dried wands simply need to be squeezed to release their fragrant oils.

The wands can be hung in a room, closet or placed in drawers to repel moths–much better than mothballs.  I think the fragrant memories of France should be everywhere after I return home! Chrissie shows three different methods of making lavender wands–all of which are lovely.

An even number of lavender stems are collected, and the leaves are gently stripped off the stems. The stems are then gathered in a small bunch and the tops of the flowers are aligned. A small piece of thin wire–about 1-1/2 inches –is wrapped around the base of the flowers to secure the bouquet. Then a long piece (about three yards or so) of narrow 1/4 inch peach-colored satin ribbon is tied over the wire–leaving a very short end of ribbon and a long end of ribbon.

The bundle of lavender stems is turned over, and the stems are carefully bent down over the lavender blossoms–making a “cage” with the stems. A couple of the rebellious blossoms are gently encouraged back inside the cage. Each of the stems are lined up around the blossoms. The short end of the peach ribbon is tucked inside amongst the lavender.

Using a large-eyed tapestry needle, the long end of the ribbon is “threaded” and the weaving process starts going under and over–round and round–the lavender cage until it is beautifully covered. We each practice weaving, and feel so relaxed.

keepers of memories

More lavender is selected from that harvested this morning, and additional simple lavender wands are easily assembled into small bunches and secured. Michelle generously shares some of her gorgeous, vintage robin’s egg blue ribbon discovered on a little excursion to a French hatmaker in another village. Some of the wands are embellished with this lovely little treasure. What a keepsake. This is an intermezzo that creates fragrant memories…

Lavender, sweet lavender; come and buy my lavender,
hide it in your trousseau, lady fair.
Let its flovely fragrance flow over you from head to toe,
lightening on your eyes, your cheek, your hair.

~Cumberkand Clark, Flower Song Book (c.1929)

More about other lovely sights of  a millinery dream trip to France in the days ahead as they unfold.

à bientôt mes amis!

Read more at French Dreams at Chateau Dumas.

Read more at Inspiring Beauty at Chateau Dumas.

Read more at Estivales du Chapeau {hat festival in France

Read more at Creativity at Chateau Dumas

Be sure to visit A Southern Daydreamer for more outdoor musings.

Market-fresh Morels

The greatest gift of a garden is the restoration of the five senses.

                                                                                                                              ~Hanna Rion

farmer’s market {Seattle-style

Rise and Shine! It is early Saturday morning, and not difficult to jump out of bed. One of my favorite days of the week–the Saturday outdoor farmer’s market! All week, I anticipate how my senses come alive with the tantalizing aromas of fresh herbs and  flowers mingled with the melange of color, form and texture of fresh-from-the-grower vegetables and fruit. I enjoy getting a few things that we don’t grow in the Rose Cottage kitchen garden.

This particular Saturday market is different–we are visiting our Darling Girl and her sweet hubby in Seattle. The four of us load-up in the Jeep, our market baskets at-hand, and head off to the local market. We want to arrive at the market “before the crowd”–the sun is just barely up. In the back seat of the Jeep, Darling Girl and I are quite animated as we chat about the fresh produce that is likely available at the market, and share ideas of amazing menus for the upcoming week. The guys in the front seat are unusally quite and stare off into the distance. They need a little more java.

We arrive at the market. Some vendors are just finishing unloading their trucks–they were up at 2 a.m. to cross over the mountain passes to the Seattle market.

Soon, we are dazzled by the offerings at each vendor/grower’s stall that are not seen at the markets near Rose Cottage–freshly pulled ramps, just-off-the -boat salmon and oysters, wooley pig sausages and meats, tender fiddleheads, ground hazelnut flour, wooden crates of the rosy-golden Mt. Rainer cherries and the brillant red bing cherries… and more. 

Then, at the end of the far aisle is a vendor in a small stall with several wooden boxes of wild morels–just forged from a forest floor in an undisclosed location! In front of each box is a hand-written description about morels. Also gathered, are gorgeous spring-green fiddleheads and lovely sea beans that taste like the ocean.

Be still my heart! My mind starts whirling about a possible dish or two using the morels to celebrate our time spent with the newlyweds. The coral-like morels are a distinctly unique mushroom. The elusive spongy fungi are so earthy looking with their odd textured caps. The aroma is lovely and their flavor is quite delicate, inspite of the funny appearance of the fungi. The biggest benefit of morels are the nutritional value–reportedly high in fiber, minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants, and are low calorie, too.

I sort through the cavernous morels and place them in a brown paper lunch bag–weighing the bag periodically to monitor how much the little gems are costing. Joining in the search of the perfectly-sized fungi is another morel fancier. We start chatting as we sort through the wooden boxes. I learn that Ty and his wife, Gail, are quite the connaisseurs of these earthly delights. Recipes are soon swapped as are email addresses with the promise to send additional mouth-watering favorites.

pike place market

Next stop–fresh, whole salmon from the legendary Pike Place Market. We are looking for the fabulous short-seasoned Copper River Salmon. In our quest, we frequently duck to avoid the flying fish tossed by the fishmongers wearing bright orange hip waders.

The final stop  is for a lovely market bouquet. The fresh-cut flowers are absolutely gorgeous at Pike Place Market. Who can resist a bouquet or two for the dinner table?

 

a feast fit for queens and kings 

Once back at the 1920’s bungalow, we gather fresh garlic, shallots and herbs from my Darling Girl’s garden in preparation for the celebration dinner. Amazingly, the rosemary is cut (nearly chopped!) from a rosemary bush that is over eight feet tall and nearly as wide! We will be using the rosemary with the grilled Copper River salmon. The pungent rosemary fragrance fills the kitchen, and lingers on our fingers as we mince, chop and dice garlic, shallots, Italian parsley and rosemary.

 

Just before we start to make the stuffing for the salmon, we trim ends of morel stalks. Wash them carefully to remove any debris from the forest floor or any little critters hidding out in the morel caverns. Then, the morels are dried.

The morels are sauteed in extra virgin Italian olive oil. The amazing fragrance fills the kitchen. Then, we add minced shallots and saute a little longer. And finally, the minced fresh garlic and is sauteed for 30 seconds. Generous handfuls of Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely minced herbs, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper are tossed with the sauteed mixture. The salmon is stuffed with the mushroom, shallot, garlic, herb and cheese mixture. Sliced lemons and oranges are placed on top of the salmon. Then,  it is drizzled in unsalted butter and wrapped tightly in foil. It is ready to be grilled.

The aromas from the grill tease us for45 minutes. We are so eager for our celebration dinner with the darling newlyweds. We soon feel like kings and queens, and are so thankful for the generous gifts from the earth and the sea!

What are your favorite outdoor farmer’s markets this year? How do you prepare your morels or other market finds?

You may want to stroll over to The Southern Daydreamer for more Outdoor Wednesday posts.

Enjoying the simple pleasures of the gifts of the garden and awakening all the senses is one of my favorite ways to help create a beautiful life. What are yours? For more about creating a beautiful life, visit Melissa at The Inspired Room.

 

Dreaming in a Kitchen Garden

One of the most delightful things about a garden

is the anticipation it provides.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             ~W.E. Johns

the early bird gets the worm

Bob the Rooster starts his wake-up call about 4 a.m. at Rose Cottage.  Usually, it is fairly easy to think about an early start to the day when the morning is clear and fresh, the sky is starting to brighten with the first hints of sun and the song birds are warming up their voices for the “Sunrise Chorus.”

This morning, it is different. It’s about 40 degrees with a high probability the mercury won’t budge much, and the needed rain is expected about 8 a.m. Knowing there is a lot to accomplish, I decide to get up when Bob the Rooster sounds the alarm… in hopes of staying ahead of the rainfall.

In spite of weather predictions, my walk up the hill to the kitchen garden is full of energy and enthusiasm. Jenny Wren twitters away that I am disrupting her sleep as I bring the hoe, rake, cultivator, spade and pruners into the garden.  It’s just not spring and summer without several families of wrens in the birdhouses. Jenny Wren intermittantly peeks out of the old gnarly gourd birdhouse hanging from one of the rustic cedar arbors between the 4 x 8 raised beds. She scolds me for nearly an hour, and finally gives up and goes back to her cozy little nest…leaving me to my early morning folly and dreams. Ah, the dreams…the hopes…the optimism…

I bring out a few packets of garden seeds–a source of inspiration, I suppose. Adding compost and other magical organic nutrients to the raised beds, I have visions of exuberant lushness in just another month or so. I frequent sideway glances at the basket filled with some of the magical seeds that will make my garden dreams come true. What are your garden dreams? What do you like to grow in your kitchen or vegetable garden?

first fruits

The rhubarb plants (Canada Red and Victoria) are exceptionally lush this year–inspite of the the near-record drought conditions in May. The leaves are supersized–as if on steriods over the winter months. Most are over three feet long, and as much again as wide. I notice a lot of pollen from the white pines on the rhubarb leaves. The rains later this morning will wash all the pollen off. The rhubarb stalks are red and seem quite tender–perfect for a rhubarb dessert. The plants have not yet developed a seed head. Although, it can seem as if the seed head can shoot up well-past the plant in just one day. This time of year, I watch for seedheads and remove them until July 4th or a bit longer depending on the growing year.

Wouldn’t some fresh, warm rhubarb crisp be delicious? Or maybe, rhubarb cake or rhubarb sauce? I am reminded to look for the refreshing rhubarb punch recipe received from a dear neighbor almost 30 years ago. What is your favorite rhubarb recipe?

 

The ever-hardy chives are already showing off their lavender-colored flowerheads. The garlic chives have a pungent fragrance as I brush past them while working around the garden beds. The chive bloosoms, along with minced Italian parsley and green onions wintered over, will make a nice addition to the spring greens salad for supper tonight.

and the bells toll

It seems like I have only been in the kitchen garden an hour or so. The distant chimes of the carillon from the Lutheran church just down the hill from Rose Cottage tells a different story–it has been over five hours! Time for a  cup of tea.  Walking back towards our cottage, I notice that more flowers are blooming. One of the favorites–the white bleeding heart–is blooming near one of the bird baths and hostas. They are so beautiful with their nodding blossoms! I am reminded that there are probably 50 or more pink and white bleeding heart on the woodland path to le palais de poulet (Bob’s house) that should be moved. So many things to be thankful for this morning.

The sweetly fragrant white alyssums are quite romantic as a border flower, and are filling out beautifully near the bleeding heart and hostas. The alyssum will be so fragrant on warm summer evenings.

After a cup of tea and some dry clothes, it is time for more day dreaming in the kitchen garden while gently working the soil for planting. I decide to walk around the other side of Rose Cottage to see if the pink lilac is finally blooming. Though not as fragrant as the white and lavender lilacs, it has a soft, lovely fragrance all it’s own.

There is a welcome surprise in the next garden bed on the way up to the kitchen garden–blooms on the Frau Dagmar Harstropp! While simple and no bother at all–Frau Dagmar Harstropp produces the first roses of the season and signals the beginning of the best season of all–that of roses! The heady rose fragrance of this rugosa fills the June air, and will have almost continuous bloom throughout the summer. The rugosas are perfect landscape roses that can tolerate our severe climate changes. Now, time for more dreaming…

 What are your garden dreams this year?

You may want to talk a morning walk over at The Southern Daydreamer for more Outdoor Wednesday posts.

Blissful Lavender Pomanders

Lavender, sweet-briar, 0rris, here
shall beauty make her pomander,
her sweet-balls to lay in clothes
that wrap her as the leaves the rose. 

                                           ~Katherine Tynan

a creative moment

Sometimes, all it takes is a brief moment…an inspiration…to use a few vintage finds and treasures in new ways. My Sweet Girl and I decide we need a simple and fun project to top off the fabulous weekend together. We spend a few hours combing through recent vintage finds tucked away in all sorts of nooks and crannies at Rose Cottage–some treasures find their way into My Sweet Girl’s (and her hubby’s) suitcases bound for Seattle!

Then, we have a great thought! We decide to make pomanders using deliciously fragrant French lavender..the kind of fragrance that just makes a girl swoon. There just happens to be a very ample supply in the old pie safe…

Now, a pomander is most often thought of as a sachet-type ball that is placed in a drawer or closet to sweeten linens or clothes. We decide to broadly interpret the definition of pomander to include any type of container that is filled with a mixture of dried flowers or herbs to provide fragrance. So what shall we use for the containers?

Going through the cupboards again, we find a pair of vintage seven-inch shakers and a single four-inch crystal shaker–all past their prime. Soon, these shakers are about to be given new life as embellished pomanders!

We find some fantastic vintage metallic French thread in bronze, silver and gold that we will use for attaching the embellishments.

Just a few more things that serve as inspiration for the pomanders…tiny jewel box keys, heart lockets, hand-painted rose buttons and sensational silk ribbons.

 

magnificant millinery

We gather up some lovely vintage linen, cotton, silk and velvet millinery from our favorite shop, Rose Mille, just up the river from Rose Cottage. I just adore the soft-blue velvet forget-me-knot millinery, don’t you?

The millinery is so lovely! What shall we pick out to use? Lately, neutral tones are quite appealing…cream, latte,  soft ivory, subtle taupe, antique apricot, olive and soft blue…all show off the texture and design of each piece of millinery so well!  

Some of the millinery needs a bit of freshing. We decide to  create “magic” by using steam from the whistling teapot using a trick my friend, Mi, told me about. More about this on the Romantic Millinery Magic post.

The petals unfurl, and the millinery is refreshed after just a few seconds held over the steam from a tea kettle.

 

making happy memories

Next, we fill the crystal and glass pomander containers with the fragrant French lavender. It just makes us swoon and feel so relaxed–just like being at the spa!

My Sweet Girl and I talk about how wonderful it is to create memories together with our last few hours before she and her hubby jet back to Seattle. It’s simple mother-daughter times like these that make me happy. I tuck this happy memory into my heart! (Visit The Inspired Room for more about what creates happiness.) What are simple pleasures that bring happiness to you?

 

viola!

With just some pieces of silk ribbon, metalic thread, millinery and embellishments we are finished! The blissful lavender pomanders are dressed up and ready to provide their fragrance in the powder room and boudoirs. 

 

My Sweet Girl is head-over-heals with the turquoise and cream striped millinery ribbon she adds on her pomander, and just has to show how gorgeous it is! Did you see that she added a swap of antique chandelier  crystals?

 

lovely Spanish lavender

There are several variety of lavenders–some fragrant, some culinary and others just breath-taking in the garden. Spanish lavender is not very frgrant, but is stunning in the garden border. Bees and butterflies find it amazing and are in blissdom, too! These lovely lavender photos are from My Sweet Girl’s home.

 

Lavender, sweet lavender; come and buy my lavender,
hide it in your trousseau, lady fair.
Let its flovely fragrance flow over you from head to toe,
lightening on your eyes, your cheek, your hair.

~Cumberkand Clark, Flower Song Book (c.1929)

Thank you, my dear friend, for visiting Rose Cottage.

May your day be filled with the lovely fragrances of spring flowers and herbs, and much happiness!

A Perpetual Astonishment: Spring (Ellis Peters)

greeting spring in the garden

Even though it is still wintery at Rose Cottage, the signs of spring are starting to slowly emerge! Yesterday, I received the best “spring is just around the corner” gift–the sweetest little herb garden for the kitchen window!

Hint of Spring - A Little Kitchen Herb Garden

The fragrance of the rosemary, oregano and thyme just made my fingers itch for the rich, dark soil of the kitchen garden-even though there is over a foot of snow on the beds! Ruth Stout captured my sentiments when she wrote, “I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.”  Where do you like to greet spring?

little signs of spring

The signs of spring have been hinting everywhere the past few days. Have you noticed the sun is a bit higher, the sky more blue and colorful bundles of tulips are blooming at the local markets? When I start seeing these signs of spring, the winter blues slowly melt away and I have renewed energy!

Alpine Flower - Lance-Leaved Springbeauty

Melissa from The Inspired Room has posted 20 Little Things to Look Forward to In Spring. Besides hearing  the sweet song of Jenny Wren and the soft, deep-throated call of the bluebirds each morning, feeling invigorated again is one aspect of spring I anticipate most. 

more…20 more things to look forward to in spring

1. hanging linens on the clothes line (smell of fresh sheets-the best!)

2. watching bluebirds nesting in the dovecote

3. filling window boxes with all sorts of pink flowers

4. laying on carpets of soft green moss in the woods

5. wearing sandals

6. leaving the windows open at night and watching the curtains sway in the breeze

7. cutting fresh garlic chives from the kitchen garden

8. sitting on the porch swing with my VBS

9. grilling freshly-picked aspargus

10. watching the daffodil bulbs emerge from their slumber

11. listening to Jenny Wren sing a “good morning to you” song

12. collecting more turquoise and brown eggs from “the girls”

13. weeding

14. picking violets–especially “freckles”

15. listening for the hot air balloons overhead

16. planting early peas

17. smelling all the “earthy smells” as the ground comes out of hibernation

18. going to the farmer’s market on Saturday

19. tasting fresh maple syrup from the sugar bush

20. hearing the laughter of children

Alpine Spring Flower - Yellow Cinquifoil

What would you add to YOUR list about “little things to look forward to in spring?”

Spring Flowering Moss

And Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast

rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”

Awaiting the Arrival of Spring

(Photos taken at Hurricane Ridge in Washington.)

How are you awaiting the arrival of spring around your home?

Happy Spring!