I know a few secret places where I find the first lovely smelling violets of the year. They were the favourite scent in Marlene Dietrich's perfume - it is called "Berlin" by Frau Tonis (you find her shop near Checkpoint Charlie).
These little tulips flower only for two days.
Aren't they beautiful?
Isn't spring such a sign of hope and a new beginning?
I will read - as every year - "The Enchanted April" by Elizabeth von Arnim, and watch the very well-made movie on a DVD too.
I am appreciating Springs beauty even more this year - far better than learning about what is going on in the world.
ReplyDeleteThis year my garden has been invaded by violets - I have clumps of them all around the garden and know not where they came from! However, I am very happy to accommodate them.
Dear Rosemary, yes - much better than all the bad news (I honestly do a news-detox at the moment). When I still had my big garden in Hildesheim I also had such a violet "invasion" and wrote an article about the line that school children in Germany often wrote into a friendship book: "Be as the violet in the moss - modest, demure and pure / and not like the proud rose which always wants to be admired". Haha - I never agreed - and the violet neither!
DeleteAll that work by your own hands and little tulips only flower for two days? Hydrangeas bloom for 4 months.
ReplyDeleteDear Helen, the Tulip turkestanica is a wild flower, so not in my garden. This tulip is one of the earliest flowering species.
DeleteIn the Netherlands you find hydrangeas en masse - of course, they love water (from the ground or pouring down) and her name is translated to "Water-slurperess".
Spring has not awakened here yet. First will come dandelions then violets.
ReplyDeleteDear Mimmylynn, in which country do you live? Is it Australia? I am deeply interested.
DeleteI am in the middle of the United States. If you look at a map of the state of Iowa you will see a small bump on the upper western side. It is the western-most part of the state. That's where I live.
DeleteDear Mimmylynn, thank you, now I have a "picture" - I will read a bit more about Iowa!
DeleteYes, it still has to get going properly here.
ReplyDeleteThe last two days brought a soft explosion here, dear Tasker. Still green veils, still tender tiny leaves, not all trees are green, but many flowering - tomorrow they announce 20 degrees C° - but the night can still be under zero.
DeleteI long for English spring pastures!
The first violets are so beautiful, just like the other spring bloomers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your book tip... atmospheric :-)) And Portofino, Cinque Terre in general, is simply stunning... oh yes, who wouldn't want to go there... right? (Well, I read that the four ladies from London were drawn there.)
Best wishes to you from Viola - My heart is full of spring.
Dear Viola, your name is a beautiful reference to those early messengers of spring!
DeleteYes, I love almost every book by Elizabeth von Arnim - especially "Elizabeth's German Garden" - if you do not know it: it is a "Must", at least for every one who loves gardens, plants and Germany. Fröhliche Ostern! Britta
My dear Britta,
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to read your post about the spring and its flowers blooming in sunlight. Both of which brought beauty, warmth, and grace to a spring day here already steeped in magic. Although it is officially spring here, it remains frightfully cold, grey and windswept. I do want to re-read Von Arnim's "Enchanted April" so that I can experience the kind of spring that she writes about ("Wisteria and Sunshine") and transports oneself like the characters (Mrs. Fisher and her stick always makes me smile) in the novel to a sunny place in Italy where one's love lingers like lilac in spring air under the softer skies in this season of becoming.
I write to you, my dear Britta, with a heart full of warmth and a touch of contrition, for my radio silence that has lingered far too long. First, allow me to offer the most heartfelt belated wishes to "the Flying Dutchman" on his birthday in Rome, and to you both, joyous blessings of Easter - may your days be crowned with renewal, love, and light.
I have only just emerged from a spiritual retreat where no internet and no notifications and it was a kind of digital Sabbath. It was blissful to be in a place where time moved gently. I have a lot of catching up to do but I shall carry the grace and the silence that I experienced during my retreat with me - always - pressed like a flower between the pages of my new chapter. I shall write again soon.
Happy Easter and endless blessings to you and your loved ones....
With friendship that remains constant, even in silence,
ASD
My dear friend, I will answer your lovely letter soon - it fills my heart with great joy. Thank you! Britta
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