snow - snow- snow!!! windy - temps freezing
Dreadful weather...five inches of heavy wet snow already. Woke up to it - thought I was Rip Van Winkle and had slept through spring, summer and fall.
This would be slightly fun and even amusing and cozy, if all the trees weren't in leaf and bud, as well as the flowers.
Have been out twice today to whack the bushes - It breaks my heart. The lilac were just about to bloom, and now this. The honeysuckle flowers were juuuust popping. The peony are in bud but were on the ground, buried under heavy snow. All the trees and bushes and bend, the roses and peony and late tupips and last of the daffs are on the ground.
And still the snow continues. All I can do is go out every hour or so and try to get the snow off. I put supports around the peony this morning and propped them up. But then I wonder if they're better, more protected, under a blanket of snow. What's worse? The cold wind or the heavy snow? And is it too late already?
Still, have to try.
Funny, last night I was almost sick with joy at the thought of a day (today) with nothing to do. Sit in front of the fire with yesterday's paper and my Maigret book. Read and sip tea. Or coffee. Or ginger ale.
Still, people are facing worse days that sweeping snow off the garden. At least we have a garden to sweep. And a fireplace to come in to. And heaven knows, we can't stop the snow.
It's mother's Day! I don't have children, except Trudy, of course, who gave me a lovely card she apparently asked Michael to get when he was in New York. It's hilarious. And I thought of my mother this morning, gone now for ten years. But as I woke up and saw the snow I heard her voice...'I could just spit', she used to say. turns out she wasn't the Queen. But she was mine. And she's missed.
Have a wonderful Mother's Day!
9 comments:
Since you are Trudy's "Mother," I hope you have a wonderful and Happy Mother's Day despite the snow. Love your Mother's saying.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Happy Mother's Day to you Louise! You've given birth to wonderful characters through your books, so indeed you are a mother. I just finished reading "Sweetnees at the bottom of the pie" this morning and read Alan Bradley's kind words about you in his acknowledgements. You are mothering along a whole host of new writers as well. And those peonies. So...Happy Mother's Day to you!
In gratitude,
Deryn
I'm afraid to comment after yesterday's debacle, but here goes.
Happy Mother's Day. I agree with Deryn in stating that you had given birth to the wonderful characters in your books. Still waiting for September and "Bury Your Dead".
I hope your peonies survive!
The Cruellest Month has slipped into May! So hearbreaking to see .... our trees lost a lot of their new born leaves in a windstorm last week and I just hated the sight of them laying on the lawn. But nature is so reslient - it springs back - over and over again.
Finished reading The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey - delightful, witty, filled with humour and no middle sag! Thanks for the recommendation. Like some else said earlier in the post, can't wait for "Bury Your Dead'! Glad you are getting well deserved rest.
Missed Saturday's blog, so I got all caught up in your garden before I realized you'd finished your first draft. Ain't that grand! Hope your garden has come through -- I have faith that it has. At least you didn't have to shovel snow off the plants while you were trying to reach "The End."
Congratulations.
Hilary
Louise --
Sorry to hear about your smothered, bruised-by-snow lilacs and peonies. Your description of yesterday's weather put me in mind of Québec's Ice Storm of 1998 -- which is a remarkable feat, given that I've lived in the Sonoran Desert these past twelve years! It sounds to me like you need to spend some serious time with Markus. There is nothing like a horse to lift your spirits. By the way, my mom (81) has a similar expression. Except her version is, "I could spit nails." -- Mercedes
I miss my mom too. She wasn't the queen either, but I can't tell you what she could spit.
I was missing my Mom yesterday, too (it's been 4 years) and this was my wife's frist Mother's Day without her Mom, so it was a day of remembering and being with family!
My Mom's gravesite is on a hill and, when we went to visit with her yesterday, the wind just tore through our clothes and it was biting.
Hope your plants made it through the cold (we had a freeze here is Cleveland, OH, but it wasn't too bad- think all my flowers weathered it!)
How comforting you all are. I do think of my books as children, and as the characters as living...odd to think of myself as Ruth's mother (god help me) - or Gamache's for that matter. But I do. Thank you for reminding me. How kind you are.
And yes, nature is resiliant! Even after terrible forest fires. Takes while, but it comes alive again. A number of our lilacs broke in the last big snow 10 days ago, so I was determined to do a better job yesterday. Every hour into the afternoon I whacked away. It was actully quite fun. Trudy came out and played in the snow, and without the pressure of also having the write it was less stressful. And this morning, though it's still cool, i can see the lilac still there, and even some of the tulips are springing back up. Remarkable.
I'm fortunate that we spread some of my mother's ashes out at the pond, on the island...so she'd there all the time.
Love the expression of 'spitting nails'!
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