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A Poem for the Change of Seasons

March 18, 2025

ellenrobertsyoung Uncategorized , , 2 Comments

A flight of fancy to celebrate the equinox. It’s officially Thursday, but the sun here, according to my cell phone, is up 12 hours plus 4 minutes today.

Royalty

At winter solstice, nature’s new year,
the one plants honor, I become
Queen of the Night, with pages,
blank or inscribed, for courtiers
who urge me to exile the to-do list,
intention’s nagging inversion.
I visit the day only to restock
my supply of wine and chocolate.

My rule ends at the equinox,
when Queen Persephone returns
from below, living green takes over,
I become servant, day-worker,
watering, feeding, trimming plants,
attendant to the majesty of growth.

Happy Equinox

March 20, 2017

ellenrobertsyoung Uncategorized , , , , , 2 Comments

A few photos to celebrate the arrival of spring.

P1000949I tried to plant something else for the winter in this pot.  It didn’t make it.  These violas don’t care whether it is winter or spring.

 

 

 

The iris came through very well this year:

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They have a cozy corner which gives them a good head start on the season.

This volunteer jumped into bloom when I wasn’t looking.  Another case of the comfort of a wall.  P951 volunteer

And then the poppies.  They turn up wherever they please.

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It’s a new year, astrologically.  A more sensible time for new beginnings, I think, than January 1.   In this spring quarter of the year I hope to have more than photos to put on this blog.  I also hope  these photos make you smile.

Goodbye to Winter

March 19, 2014

ellenrobertsyoung Uncategorized , , 2 Comments

After I posted my photos of spring color (March 4) I realized that I had never photographed the flowers which have given me color all winter, a few in my yard and a few by my patio.  As a way of celebrating the end of the season, I give thanks for the blue pansies.  This batch I can see from my study window.

Pansies by the metal lily

Pansies by the metal lily

I learned by trail and error that these traditional pansies are more cold hardy than the fancy varieties.  There is a lovely frilled variety with “antique” in their name, but they are imposters.  I will have some this spring because the ones that died in the cold a year ago left some seeds to sprout.  But these blues have survived every year I’ve planted them.

Pansies by the patio

Pansies by the patio

Happy Equinox to all.  Enjoy the greater energy of longer days.

 

 

Chronophobia: Fear at the Equinox

September 21, 2013

ellenrobertsyoung Uncategorized , , , , , 3 Comments

Time always seems to be an issue at the fall equinox.  The shortening daylight gives a feeling of shorter hours, while the activities that resume in the fall take up more of those hours.  The tasks put off during hot weather have also accumulated.  There is one plus to this season: being up before the sun to see the dawn color.

September Sunrise

September Sunrise

 

The rest of the day time seems to run and leap, trampling the to-do list.  I may even suffer an attack of Chronophobia:

I’m on the monster’s back and I don’t dare get off.  Time is the enemy, a threat to all my projects.  Of hours in the day or days in the week there are never enough to keep up with all my chosen tasks: the writing, the meetings, the email, the sewing, the gardening.

Some weeks I wonder if I should even be spending Sunday morning at church.  I hear time growling, licking his lips.  Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do today that I must spend a long time in prayer.”  How could this be, I wondered.  Then I discovered the secret.  When I stop, really completely stop―not just sit down with a book, not just make a cup of coffee―when I really come to a full stop, time stops too.

It doesn’t last long.  As soon as I begin to move again, I have to get back up on the monster’s back and race toward the next task, the next deadline, the next chime of the hour. If I slip off I may be eaten.  This is Chronos, after all: the old god who eats his children.

Thanks to Ina Hughs, at last year’s October Writing Festival at Ghost Ranch, for her “sheet of fears” exercise.

Happy Equinox!

March 20, 2013

ellenrobertsyoung Uncategorized , , , , 2 Comments

It’s the midpoint on the sun’s journey from south to north.  I know it is really the earth’s tilt that causes this apparent journey, but it is hard to think in those terms.  We humans have always seen it as a shift in the sun, not in the ground we stand on.  It’s the first day of spring, and in the garden, the plants are already ahead of me.

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The large grass plant has made a big start.  It has far to go, since its seed heads will reach seven feet or more.

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The chamisa, which will also grow large, is nagging me about the sloppy pruning job I did on it this winter.  I couldn’t decide which branches to cut down to the ground.

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The pansies, which provided a bright spot through the winter, also are happier with the warming weather and longer days.  They’d look even better if I got out to rake out the old weeds around them.

That’s how it is with gardens.  There’s too little to do until suddenly there’s too much.  If you’re still waiting for spring to reach your yard, get those tools ready and replan your days.  I didn’t do that.  I should have seen this coming!