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A personal reflection on some of the things that indicate spring. Even before the leaves can be seen, a layer of green powder covers everything outside from car windows to farm equipment. forsythia bushes and clumps of Daffodils add pops of yellow to the world. Beneath the old peach tree on my childhood farm a circle of daffodils disturbed the brown stable of last year's hay field.
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| Image by -Rita-👩🍳 und 📷 mit ❤ from Pixabay |
However the most vivid memory of the shift between winter and summer was the scent of lilac. Large vases of the purple flowers sat in the middle of the kitchen table. The source of this bounty was a ten-foot tall, twenty foot diameter bush that to me seemed ancient. Years of children playing hide and seek branches wore a path through the middle. Even the animals enjoyed the shade of the branches. A bonded pair of a sheep and a Shetland pony evoked laughter as long as you didn't get caught in the stampede when the sheep realized the pony was out of sight and raced around the lilac bush to find him.
Below are two excepts containing flowers at ceremonies. One from Windmaster and the other from Windmaster Legacy.
A Southern Sea handfasting
“My friends, let us ask the water gods for success for our hunters and blessings for those who journey on the morrow.”
A young man, a few seasons short of his second decade, led a woman the same age to where Semelen stood. The boy’s face was solemn, the girl’s shy and wistful. The old wizard wrapped a floral vine around the pair’s wrists. His hands upon the pair’s heads, he closed his eyes and spoke a blessing in an ancient tongue. The couple departed hand-in-hand into the jungle.
A few minutes later another couple approached Semelen, who repeated the short ceremony. This couple ran off toward the beach, sleeping mats tucked under their arms.
Ellspeth slipped around the dying fire, her light tread silent on the soft carpet of short grass.
Dal looked up into her eyes, now a light willow green sparkling with emotion.
“For a safe journey.” She placed a floral wreath around Dal’s neck.
Dal fought down the feelings that rose with Ellspeth’s touch. Then his eyes hooded with suppressed passion, he stood. A swift motion lifted the wreath from his neck and placed it around Ellspeth’s. Her fingers felt warm in his as he led her over to Semelen. At their approach, the islander’s brown face glowed with a broad smile.
Flowers at a king’s reception
Two floral wreaths of purple trumpet flowers interwoven with orange blossoms from the southern isle hung around the bard’s neck. “Those flowers must have been hothouse raised,” Vika whispered as he guided Ellspeth the final few steps to the waiting trio. “The trumpet flowers are only found in the highest mountain meadow and should just now be breaking through the ground. They are almost as difficult to grow as the island blossoms. It is a tribute to you and Dal that Fraunces had them produced for this day.”
And just because it is spring, one of my favorite pictures, cherry blossoms.
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That sounds like a huge bush.
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