While fairies dance in a place apart

The first thing we noticed when we glanced out the window on Mayday morning was that the first poppy of the season had bloomed! 
These gals are rare this year, despite the rain (maybe they like dry years better?) and we only have a few fuzzy buds that have graced us with their surprising blossoms. I think we're on number four, when in past years we've had dozens in the patch. But each one is precious to us, and what a treat to start the glorious month of May!


We dressed in floral frocks and headed over to Nana's to celebrate the flowers. 
She had Sweet Williams for the girls to plant in little pots.


Polly wore her first ever pigtails. (You might have to squint to see them.)


Learning to "tamp the soil down." 


My mom really is Queen of the May. Her garden is buzzing with action from earliest dawn. Bees, butterflies, flickers, finches, hummingbirds, squirrels. The flowers show off their freshest colors, violet and magenta and gold. The honeybees are smitten. 




 

The side of my mom's yard is blanketed in a sea of wild onion this year, tiny white delicate blossoms that look like the perfect forest for fairy lodging. The girls picked them in big handfuls and delighted in sniffing the slightly bitter oniony aroma.






"In the leafy treetops the birds sing good morning." Nana is a born children's librarian. She has a fun little ditty on the ready for any occasion. 


 Me and my very own little spring blossoms. Pretty as poppies, wild as trolls. 

Later we went to Raley's and a student saw me in my Mayday outfit. "Hey Ms. Beatty,"He called across the parking lot. "I like your dress!" Student sightings are something I've never really had to consider before in my wild get-ups. I'm quite sure I flushed red while tripping over my hem yet again.


We got home and romped in the backyard awhile. Lucy is learning how to take pictures. 


Billy boy keeps watch on the little burrows that dot the yard. This is intensive work for him and requires hours of staring. To my knowledge, he has never killed anything, thank goodness.


The girls are very interested in burrows too. This night, Polly had a nightmare about a snake that woke both of them up. They are constantly thinking they see snakes, which always turn out to be mossy sticks or pine needles. 


We set the table outdoors for a spring meal. 


When Darin got home from work we feasted on one of our favorite meals: Baja style tempeh tacos from the Veganomicon.



The wind blows out of the gates of the day,
The wind blows over the lonely of heart,
And the lonely of heart is withered away;
While the faeries dance in a place apart,
Shaking their milk-white feet in a ring,
Tossing their milk-white arms in the air;
For they hear the wind laugh and murmur and sing
Of a land where even the old are fair,
And even the wise are merry of tongue;
But I heard a reed of Coolaney say--
When the wind has laughed and murmured and sung,
The lonely of heart is withered away.”



HAPPY MAY ALL!


p.s. Thank you for your kind notes on my last post. I am still on a total 90's revival. (who would have thought back then that the 1990's would one day symbolize the "simple life"? )  More on that later. 



Comments

Lindy from Washington said…
Heather, I had to comment on this post, you look simply amazing!! You just glow! your dress has got to be the prettiest of all your dresses I've ever seen, and the flowers in your hair! Beautiful! The girls are getting so big, your mama is so glowing and pretty, her yard! I read your last post, and completely understand. I myself, being 37 yrs. young, have never been on facebook, no instagram, no blogs, and have a very "dumb phone", no pictures, no video, just a dumb phone. I have mentioned before, I recently moved onto a beautiful river here in Washington, the Deschutes river, it is breathtaking, and I am an avid gardener, so is my mom, but my point is, short of taking a 'real' picture, with an old camera, I do not have the technology to share what a beautiful place I am in, it's like my own little secret, that I cannot put into words. I don't facebook, etc., so I have to 'describe' to my co-workers the beauty of my garden, the otters in the river, the horses that run wild in the mountain land across from my yard. I am very simple, and cringe when I see people staring stupidly at their devices. If I take a picture, I have to 'trust' what it will become, go to the drug store, have it developed, and hope for the best when it turns out. Old school. I think too many people over share, with total strangers, mind you, and I don't understand it? I love your blog, don't get me wrong, but more so because it's so real, and organic. In a day and age where people are putting semi-naked pics up on instagram, and lost in their devices, I'm living a very non-technological life on purpose. And even though my little piece of heaven may remain a mystery to those that want to see, I can say I am a rare being and I'm very proud that I am not like the rest. I don't have a computer even at home, and when I'm at work on break, I check a few things out that appeal to me, and your blog is one of them. I adore your blog. Organic. Thank you for your 'tall glass of lemonade' refreshing, open, real, and fresh blog. You are a fairy creature, and your love for animals and vegetarian choice of lifestyle is admirable. So, I will wander off, after work, in my 20 year old car, to the country, that takes me an hour each way, into the woods, over the Mt. Rainier foot hills, down a long dirt road, with no cell reception, onto my cabin right on the river, and surround myself with my cats, my otters, my river, and a tall glass of cold beer, (or 6 packer! :-) and will await another 'tall glass of lemonade' from Ms. Heather, Thank you for it Heather...'till next time!
Amy Beatty said…
What are these tacos. I made the tofu ones the other day that you gave me years & years ago. But this looks much yummier. Such lovely spring with sweet little girls. Love this. Love that billy boy also.

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