"Now in the spring I kneel, I put my face into the packets of violets, the dampness, the freshness, the sense of ever-ness. Something is wrong, I know it if I don't keep my attention on eternity. May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful. May I stay forever in the stream. May I took down upon the windflower and the bull thistle and coreopsis with the greatest respect... 
Teach children. We don't matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones – inkberry, lamb's-quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones – rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms." 

Attention is the beginning of devotion."
                                                                                                                                                        Mary Oliver, Upstream      


Spring is on its way...
I am happy and ready to cross a threshold from a world of dull brown and stiff grey to the loveliness of soft greens, joyous yellows and deep blues that herald the fresh new season.
Everything smells
like endless hope and anticipation,
like childhood memories,
like morning dew and wet soil,
like awakening...
I finally feel at home in my own skin; at home on the face of the earth...
I feel this pleasant lightness and new clearness that make it easier for me to breathe and actually see.
Like a miniature imperfect blossom, my soul is arising from hibernation, furtively opening itself once again to the universal love of the world. Loving the world requires attention. Because – paying attention is the only thing that guarantees insight; the only thing that can heal the heart; the only thing that makes us see life's simple, yet amazing gifts.




Wishing you a splendid springtime. 
Botanical eggs, my son and I colored for Easter with yellow onion skin, blueberries, turmeric, and blossoms. 
Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake recipe (with a few changes) from Live Well Bake Often