What an amazing, joyful moment of the day is, when I get to go
out to the front porch and sit under the sizzling hours of mid afternoon, to
just be... to only listen to the familiar sounds of summer, the songs of birds,
and the high-pitch hum of cicadas.
Did you know that cicadas start to emerge only after a
17-year wait to mate? And where was I 17
years ago when, here, on these same woods and trees this brood of cicadas was
already waiting for 'today'? Nature certainly
never ceases to amaze me.
The Annabelle hydrangeas have grown more, and expanded
beyond themselves even more this year.
Unlike the blue and pink hydrangeas, Annabelle blooms every year even
after a severe pruning and intensely cold winters. The huge, white drumstick
blooms appear in profusion without fail every summer.
Had I known how reliable these flowers are and how much I'd loved them, I would had planted them as a hedge in front of the holly
bushes by our front porch, where instead I chose to plant that row of Iceberg roses,
which have never done well, and have always adopted that spindly, leggy
appearance since the very beginning.
This afternoon I went outside and collected bunches of
hydrangeas to make bouquets...
It was
hot, but under the canopies of trees that protrude from the woods it felt
comfortable and tepid and I found myself mystified by the sounds of summer, and
the dark emerald shades of the woods, quiet and timing with life as they
are.
This is what I love about summer, the
strength and vigor of it. The being wild
and slow, old and yet growing young buds of dreams. For me, it is a magic that
must be written in the old pages of my soul. We are all wanderers on this
earth, and my heart is full of wonder, and my soul deep with dreams...
I wake up every morning and go to work, and miss those magical
hours of my days... at 8:00, and 9:00 and then again mid morning around 10:00 in the little white cottage. I miss my home, being able to enjoy my freedom... miss my feathery friends; the fishes in the pond, the squirrels and their shenanigans around the garden and the
mystifying sounds of the woods... even at the office, my heart is silently the
one with the messy hair, the dirty feet and that wild sparkle in its eyes...
Even with the huge amount of mosquitoes and insects that come with this wild, hot humid life of the south, I'm still so much in love with my garden. Love our little white cottage and its quiet surroundings, love the peace I find here, always welcoming and comforting...
The minute I enter this door, I am at peace with my soul again...
“I felt a pang -- a strange and
inexplicable pang that I had never felt before.
It was homesickness. Now, even
more than I had earlier when I'd first glimpsed it, I longed to be transported
into that quiet little landscape, to walk up the path, to take a key from my
pocket and open the cottage door, to sit down by the fireplace, to wrap my arms
around myself, and to stay there forever and ever.” ― Alan Bradley, The
Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
:))
ReplyDeleteA beautiful post Cielo. As ever. Mimi xxx
ReplyDeleteThose hydrangeas are just lovely! I've never tried Annabelles. Hydrangeas grow everywhere around here, even wild on the sides of the roads. I think they must really like the climate, but they're just the common ordinary lavender blue variety with huge basketball sized blooms that start out white and eventually turn to varying shades of blue. I don't know how well other varieties of hydrangeas would do here. Recently I bought a little starter plant on Ebay of a variety called Vanilla Strawberry. Have you seen it? It's spectacular. The colors and shape of the blooms are incredible, sort of looks like puffs of cotton candy. My son brought it down to me on his recent trip here. It's already grown quite a bit in just two months and I'm crossing my fingers that it will do as well as the ordinary hydrangeas do. Un abrazo!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely... I think I've seen that hydrangea, but only on the Internet... I love the shades of the ones we grow here... from light lavender to blue to deep purple, and then some pinks and what I call 'the vintage hues', for a combination of faded shades that resemble something old... so pretty! Hope yours would do well!
DeleteCielo
A beautiful post Cielo.
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