Mrs. Teabody Enjoys Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze . . .

~

Good Morning, Gentle Reader. Did you sleep with the windows open last night because Mother Nature is so terribly confused? Or are you like the Teabodys -- hermetically sealed inside your perfectly-controlled climate oblivious to the changeability of  the world outside? Mrs. Teabody struggles with the right tack to take, but insufferably high temperatures are not Mrs. Teabody's friend. Insufferably high temperatures are not the friend of most women in Mrs. Teabody's age demographic.

Whether the world was ready or not, warm weather has arrived -- at least for a time long enough to insure the death of tender eager shoots and leaves should Mother Nature change her mind. All growing things are already convinced to begin their new cycle. The front garden at Tickle Your Fancy is awash in spring colors of  pansies, hyacinths, squill and daffodowndillies and the rose bush there is covered with new leaves. Mrs. Teabody adores  all this but cries, "Too soon. Too soon!" Spring needs to be a gradual thing, and  Mrs. Teabody does not want it to end. Look, Gentle Reader! The daffodils are already showing themselves in front gardens and flower beds everywhere:

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

And who can ignore the flowering trees. Like many of you, Gentle Reader, Mrs. Teabody especially adores the large ancient magnolia tree at the traffic light in nearby Mercersburg while flowering cherry trees are beautiful enough to inspire trips  to Washington, D.C. each year from the far reaches of the country. With good reason.Whatever you are about in the coming days, do take a moment enjoy the spring blossoms because it is such a glorious and ephemeral time.

Anyone who loves flowering trees knows what a joy it is to watch their slow progress to full flower.

Each day at Tickle Your Fancy is unique because Mrs. Teabody never knows who will come through the  front door next. Many friends both old and new stop by to share a cuppa and regale Mrs. T with news of the outside world, and every now and again someone travels a very great distance, someone Mrs. Teabody holds in a special little corner of her heart, and this week was one of those when Lady C________ and her charming daughter Lady B____________  took their leave. What a happy hour, Gentle Reader! Suffice to say, it was a time Mrs. Teabody will cherish as these particular friends  are "too much absent."

I gazed---and gazed---but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought . . .

Gentle Reader, life passes far too quickly to spend it all hermetically sealed in routine and predictability. Yes, the daffodils are blooming now, but they won't last for long. Even if you are not ready for Spring, she is, nevertheless, here. And like those faraway friends one sees all too infrequently, Spring will go away all too soon. Do take the time to go outside today. Gaze and gaze. Take it all in. Tuck it inside your memory, your "inward eye" to flower through the coming year and fill your heart with "pleasure."

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.