Favorite Things
"It is the translucency of spring that I look forward to from the middle of winter. It is this, more than the season's growth or warmth or change in the view that I anticipate. In mid-April, sunlight will travel 93 million miles to our woods, finding a million tiny see-through leaves. Packets and waves of light pierce cuticle, mesophyll, and parenchyma--the entire world that lies within the diaphanous thickness of an emerging leaf.
Spring leaves take in sun but don't hold it. Like a ghost through a wall, spring sun shines into and through. So an April leaf projects a chartreuse glow on the world that you will not see when leaves have grown to their full size and thickness in summer.
Keep your whiskers on kittens. A new leaf in spring is one of my favorite things."
Fragments ~ April 25, 2003
Comments
Beautiful words... perfect for the picture.
Posted by: Sallie | April 23, 2004 9:07 AM
Lovely. Thank you for this evocative post; the image and words combine powerfully. I particularly liked the leading phrase, "the translucency of spring".
Is this post from some of your other writings?
Posted by: Kathleen | April 23, 2004 10:10 AM
Beautifully expressed. Perhaps that light green wash, appearing after the coming of so much cold, is a symbol of hope.
Posted by: Denny | April 23, 2004 11:31 AM
Now, Fred. Can't I have whiskers on kittens AND newly unfurled leaves among my favorite things? Of course, my favorite things number as the stars or grains of sand...but...I contend that I am entitled to hold as many things as "favorites" as I care to. Great pictures, BTW!
Posted by: Cop Car | April 23, 2004 7:25 PM
One of the few things I miss from Virginia is the tulip poplar tree. There are a few of them around here in Washington State, but not many! The only disadvantage of having them around at the house where I grew up was the honeydew dripping from the aphids all over our deck in the spring and summer.
Posted by: Anita Rowland | April 27, 2004 4:27 PM