BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Alfred Lord Tennyson Now fades the last long streak of snow, Now burgeons every maze of quick About the flowering squares, and thick By ashen roots the violets blow. Now rings the woodland loud and long, The distance takes a lovelier hue, And drowned in yonder living blue The lark becomes a sightless song. Now dance the lights on lawn and lea, The flocks are whiter down the vale, And milkier every milky sail, On winding stream or distant sea; Where now the seamew pipes, or dives In yonder greening gleam, and fly The happy birds, that change their sky To build and brood, that live their lives From land to land; and in my breast Spring wakens too: and my regret Become an April violet, And buds and blossoms like the rest. (photos taken in my front yard, plants planted and nurtured by myself and my children... spring courtesy of God)

"As the gardener, such is the garden." ...Hebrew proverb If you haven't guessed, I love gardening. I didn't realize how much I missed it until we moved to this house and its small backyard 4 years ago. Making things grow, bringing color to the dirt and having my hands in the soil - I can almost feel the earth's pulse. My late parents would wait until I came home for visits - then get me to trim their shrubs around the house by hand. They refused to get a gardener - because if I did it - things flourished. My Nana, of blessed memory, and I had a productive tomato garden going behind our garage too. When we moved in here the backyard was a mess. I had a landscaper come and level it right to the dirt. Running into him in the neighbor last summer he asked if he could come see what I'd done. He was amazed. He said I had turned an overgrown, bug-infested swamp into a lovely little yard. I felt humble. A sterile, manicured home is not for me. A lush place o...