Spring has stayed through June, and I’m feeling particularly thankful for that. I love the cool spring weather and am not quite so fond of the hot summer, so an extra month or so of chilly evenings and rainy mornings has me ready to share a few of my favorite things this season.
1. I love it when bearers of bad news are wrong. We were warned by the nursery that wisteria would definitely grow in our climate, but it wouldn’t blossom. I’m so glad that we decided to plant it anyway. This year it was just dripping in gorgeous blossoms and I’m in love with it.
2. I love happy accidents. We purchased lilac bushes for the side yard and as they started growing they looked a bit, well, off. We found out that they’re actually Japanese lilacs. They have the same gorgeous scent and color, but the leaves and blossoms are more feathery-looking than traditional lilacs. Best of all, they blossom just as other lilacs quit (and after the wisteria loses it’s blossoms as well). The timing is absolutely perfect to keep our side garden in color and heavenly scent.
3. I love rain. Not always, sometimes I’d like to make it stop for a bit and come back later when I’m not busy trying to do things. But mostly I just love rain. We didn’t have it much growing up so rainy days were precious treats to be thoroughly enjoyed. I would sit on the porch and hear it patter upon the roof – or sit outside on the front steps and let it just soak me. It was beautiful. I loved the rain in Italy – so much more powerful than anything I’d experienced in Wyoming. And I love the rain here. It makes everything smell so fresh and clean.
4. I love garden fresh produce. My husband is fantastic with plants. He claims it’s all in the watering of them, and that my weakness in this area explains my wilting and dying flowers so much more realistically than my own mystical brown-thumb theories. Oh, and weeding. He highly recommends removing the choking weeds from around my flowers. Not at all romantic, I know, but there’s an upside to a practical husband. It’s garden fresh produce. We’ve been having salad from our lettuce plants in the garden for weeks now and it’s fantastic. Soon we’ll have fresh garden tomatoes to add to it, and peas. Delicious.
5. I love Spring Clean. Not cleaning. I don’t love cleaning. I’m about as good at it as I am at watering flowers. But spring makes me want to see things put back in order and freshened up, and so I feel motivated to do it despite not loving the process. It feels great to have the winter things put away and rooms decluttered. I love to open the windows and air everything out. I love seeing the deck cleared off and set up – those outdoor rooms are some of my very favorites in the house.
So if you’ve not seen many new things in my shop lately – perhaps these top five things will make that more understandable. And for those who are disappointed by that and aching for something new, take heart. Soon the summer sun will be driving me down into my cool basement studio to create once again. I’ll counteract the heat with the Christmas art set that will be released at Bits of Ivory in July. At Bramble & Vine there will be books and tags and cards of all sorts coming from my studio – and perhaps I’ll have a Top Five Tuesday celebrating my little oasis.
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Barbara Anne Williams
Bits of Ivory
Bramble & Vine @Etsy and @1000Markets
