Saturday Sojourn - Reckless Spring

"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it

were voices instead of colors, there would be an

unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the

night." - Rainer Maria Rilke

What a difference a day makes. It was as if Spring had overslept and was suddenly awakened by the alarm clock. "Hurry!" she exclaimed to the trees, shrubs, flowers, and birds. "We're late...get busy!"

I went outside to find that things were blooming quite recklessly, not with the usual springtime order of events. The leaves on the deciduous trees suddenly decided to unfurl in all their sweet chartreuse splendor...

Though there is still no sign of the unusually stubborn daffodils and tulips, colors on the shrubs and trees collided against each other...

Wild Dogwood (yellow blossoms)

The beauty of the songbirds... purple martins, bluebirds, finches, and cardinals, combined with the less melodic crows, grackles, and jays, to produce a cacophony of sound that never ceased.

And the mysterious "Brigid's Gate" down the path from our house, which looked so barren this past winter...

Now looks like this...

...and I suppose before too much longer, it will be completely hidden from sight.

I missed the usual commune I've come to expect in the last few days with Brother Heron. Instead, he ceded the pond at Weldon Spring's nature path to a fisherman in human form, one who was much larger, noisier, and less graceful than he.

When I finished my meditation, though (seated at a pondside bench) I opened my eyes to see him (the heron...not the very large man) fly overhead to the sanctuary of the back woods.  So at least we said hello today.

Apparently, spring this year will be a raucous event filled with the chaos that invariably accompanies oversleeping. Each spring is different, I suppose, and this one promises to be memorable.

Today I hope you witness spring...somewhere.

The music I selected today is a little longer than most I choose (I never want to take up too much of your precious time), but I promise you this one is worth the seven and a half minutes out of your day.

This is Beethoven's "Sonata Op 57, 3rd Movement", or "Appassionata." This video is of Valentina Lesitsa in rehearsal before a Vienna concert in 2009. Like Spring today, it's filled with excitement, passion, and a bit of chaos. I think you'll be amazed by how fast Lesitsa's fingers fly at the end. Enjoy!