I'm normally a nice person, but I just had to rub it in: the pinks, the yellows, the fragrance in the air. My cousin who lives so far north in Minnesota she could whisper and be heard in Canada, is one of my favorite people, but I couldn't help emailing her some photos last week, of all the things in bloom here in Tacoma, saying "These should make you good and jealous."
"Oh yeah, I'm way jealous of all that color," she said. "I'm sending you two pics of what we have to look at." It was lovely, for Minnesota; the morning sun "reflecting through three inches of solid ice over completely frozen ground." There was another one, of the lake with its ice cap two feet thick. My cousin is not a native of Minnesota. She's from Seattle. In her household, especially by the time winter has worn out its welcome, the landscape is sarcastically referred to as "a (blankety blank) Winter Wonderland!" She labeled the photos "GDWW1" and "GDWW2."
It isn't officially spring here in the Pacific Northwest but it might as well be. My yard is coming alive with color, a crayon box full of primroses and more. It's fragrant too, with the perfume of pink trees lining the street, Daphne odora, and Royal Star Magnolia. Our most eager rhododendron stands out among its peers, covered with delicate cotton candy trusses. Around the neighborhood you can find heather, forsythia, flowers from spring-blooming bulbs, and more, to say nothing of the green leaves emerging from shrubs and trees. Yesterday I took a walk in the park at Point Defiance where the patches of bright yellow daffodils can make even a cloudy day seem sunny. Why do you think I call this blog "Good Life Northwest?" Aren't we lucky?Don't feel too sorry for my cousin because Spring is coming, even there. They just had a big thaw. Now it's mud.
Text and photos copyright 2010 Candace Brown
2 comments:
Well, so... Minnesota does have its charms here, although about the time we begin to think of the charms associated with Spring and Summer, Mother Nature often throws us another snow ball, dropping a final foot of wet white stuff. Once the last hoorah has passed, Spring usually advances quickly into summer, bringing tick and mosquito season with it! Ah, summer in the deep north woods!
As for my Cousin Candy, she is one of my favorite people too, especially when she taunts me with pretty NW Spring flowers to relieve our stark Winter White Wonderland! Here's to mud in your eye, doncha knoooow!
Cousin Lynda
About a month ago, i sent similar photos to my friends in "the other Washington." Today, they called me rattling on about the picnic they'd enjoyed in their 70dF weather. Guess i can't win 'em all. / pf
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