Violets

Saying you "hate" violets makes you sound like an awful person. I don't mean the potted African violets you buy at the grocery store, and pure violet perfume is beautiful and rare. However, the little wild ones are considered invasive weeds, and the roots form a thick mat that has to be hacked out. They get a few tiny flowers in the spring, but that's it for all the trouble. They're also drought and herbicide resistant, although I've never been desperate enough too spray them with poison.
Having said those mean things, violets are also a beloved flower in literature and music. Obviously a different variety than the ones I have. Do you know the pretty old Frank Sinatra song "I bought you violets for your furs...?"
Or how about Liza Doolittle selling violets in front of the theater in My Fair Lady? Lots of sweet images.
And there are dozens of references to violets in Shakespeare's poetry and plays. Here's one describing Titania's sleeping bower in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania some time of the night...

The darling buds of May

We've had rough weather in the northwest this week-- unseasonably cold and stormy in Seattle, with snow in the mountains. Amanda and Nova left on Tuesday afternoon and were safely home by evening. That morning, the mountain passes were under winter storm watch, and the North Cascades Highway was closed again. But later in the day, the snow was slushy and the roads bare on Snoqualmie Pass. Who wants to look at gray, snowy mountain scenery in May? Anyway, the trip takes about five hours-- near home, Nova cried for one of them. I'm sure that was a very long hour for Amanda.

I work at the museum library most Tuesday afternoons, so on their way out of town we stopped together to see the exhibits at MOHAI. I carried Nova around in my arms, looking at many interesting things. Her favorites were the stuffed cougar (big kitty) and poor old Bobo the gorilla in a glass case. She was also fascinated by the groups of school kids, and you could see her brain working overtime: soon I'll be running around like that!

We had a wonderful weekend visit-- sure, the house is clean again, but way too dull and quiet without baby noise and toys everywhere. Nova seemed to change and grow right before our eyes.

Shakespeare's sonnet #18 has that famous phrase "the darling buds of May." It refers to the May tree or hawthorn. But no matter-- it makes me think of beautiful children and the month of May. The sonnet is about the freshness and anticipation of youth.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date...

Night Queen

The Queen of the Night is the closest you'll get to a pure black tulip. I love this flower-- and if you Google the name, you'll find dozens of beautiful pictures of Queen, so other people must like it too. It's unusual, but also one of those strong bulbs that come back every year.

Speaking of tulips, we just watched an interesting PBS documentary called The Botany of Desire. Michael Pollan talks about apples, tulips, cannabis and potatoes, and how from an evolutionary point of view, plants are as advanced as we are. The "genius" of plants is the way they evolve in usefulness and beauty in order to get us to work for THEM. Anyone who spends an afternoon in the garden understands that.

And how about my new pot tower? It should be pretty when those sedums drape down the sides. Something I learned to make from that know-it-all Martha Stewart.

Time for dinner

Here's Nova, sitting in the kitchen with Grandpa John. Both of them are waiting for dinner. From the pictures, some of you have asked if Nova is "always happy." Well, sort of-- but she's also an active little girl with a real mind of her own. And if you haven't had a baby in the house for a while, you may have forgotten just how much work this job is. Here's a refresher...

I don't WANT to sit in my highchair!

But once I'm there, dinner is darn good--avocado and spinach and sweet potato.

It was great, but now I'm SO done!

And I don't want my face washed, either.

I'm fine now, but mommy sure is tired...

In fact, I'm ready for some exploring and standing up before my bath. Grandma's gonna have some housework to do when I leave :-)

What's new, Pussycat?

Amanda and I spent a long time at the "educational" toy store on Friday, looking at all kinds of 20 bucks and up toddler toys. Nova wasn't that impressed either; she's still at that adorable age where she likes looking and doesn't have to have anything. That is, until we spotted the rack of darn cute animal puppets, and grandma got carried away. Nova loves the kitty, and the picture alone was worth it.

Here's another sweet one of our little Nova. She's playing with the other new "toys" her frugal grandma bought her at Safeway: a set of red bowls and measuring spoons. In fact, they kept her busy all afternoon making cakes in the sunshine while mommy and Auntie Mandi went out to lunch.

Happy Birthday, Dave and Mark!

Don't burn the house down!