Droopy (140/365)

TIME: 7:58 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT: Peonies

This was not a good year for the peonies.

They barely got blooming and it rained.

They look how I feel.

~*~*~*
Happy birthday to Dad!

76 years young!

Caged (096/365)

“Cages are good. My heart is in my rib cage, and love is in my heart. We should put more things in cages, like politicians.”
― Jarod Kintz, Love quotes for the ages. Specifically ages 18-81.

TIME:  5:43 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Sprouting Peonies

More signs of spring!
The peonies are growing taller.
Time to place the tomato cages.

Freshly Cut (132/365)

“To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.”

John Beverley Nichols (English, author, playwright, journalist, composer, and public speaker. 1898-1983)

TIME:  8:07 PM
PLACE:  Kitchen
SUBJECT:  Peonies

We had a storm early this morning with very heavy rain and hail.  I had placed tomato cages around my peony plants in early April for support, but they were still sagging to the ground due to the rain.  There was an abundance of blooms though, so this evening I cut a number of stems to make a bouquet to place in the house.  Their fragrance is simply delectable.

Pushing Up Peonies (066/365)

 
“And the Spring comes slowly up this way.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), British poet. Christabel (l. 22). . . Poems [Samuel Taylor Coleridge]. John Beer, ed. (1993) Everyman.

TIME:  5:01 PM
PLACE: Front yard
SUBJECT:  Peony shoots

We had some lovely weather today, we made it to 60 degrees.  We did get a quick downpour mid-afternoon, but the rain, although heavy, was over after less than 5 minutes and the sun came out again.  When my dad came by on Friday, he had mentioned that he noticed the peonies were coming up.  After the rain stopped, I went out to look for them.  Yep, they were there.

Mom's Peony (135/365)

 
"I have been here before,
But when or how I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights around the shore."

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), British poet. Sudden Light (l. 1-5). . . Oxford Book of Nineteenth-Century English Verse, The. John Hayward, ed. (1964; reprinted, with corrections, 1965) Oxford University Press

TIME:  6:21 PM
PLACE: The front yard
SUBJECT:  White Peony

The peonies have started to bloom!  The plants have about 6 full flowers and numerous buds.  I wish the Internet had smell-o-vision so I could share their wonderful fragrance with you.  StellaDella spent about 30 minutes outside smelling the flowers.  The smell brings back so many happy memories of my childhood.  I hope when she gets older, it will do the same for her.

I apologize about the late postings and commenting.  My DSL went down about 3:30pm Thursday afternoon and we also lost phone service for about 36 hours.  I used Windows Live Writer to do Thursday's and today's posts.  When you see these posts, it means either my electronic connection to the rest of the world has been restored or more than likely, I went out in search of free Wi-fi! 

Peony Promise (098/365)

 
"...peonies, their favorite flower, are saluted by the Chinese, according to their form or color, by these delicious names, each an entire poem and an entire novel:  The Young Girl Who Offers Her Breasts, or: The Water That Sleeps Beneath the Moon, or: The Sunlight in the Forest, or: The First Desire of the Reclining Virgin, or: My Gown Is No Longer All White Because in Tearing It the Son of Heaven Left a Little Rosy Stain; or, even better, this one: I Possessed My Lover in the Garden."

Octave Mirbeau, Torture Garden, "The Garden," Chapter 5

TIME: 1:25 PM
PLACE:  Front yard flowerbed
SUBJECT: Peony shoots

These peonies were given to me by my mother from plants she grew in her backyard.  Mom's peony plants were given to her from her mother's plants.  Originally, the above plants were located by the back porch of our first home.  My mom planted the tuberous roots for me soon after DramaQueen was born in late October of 1997.  When we moved, eight years ago, I dug up the peonies and replanted them here.  I am so very glad I did.  I cannot wait for them to bloom so I can cut bouquets and fill the house with their fragrance.  That smell immediately transports me back to my childhood, when Mom would do the exact same thing each spring.