the last of the spring showers?

We spent most of the day inside making treats for the fairies and watching the dark, dark clouds dance a little dance overhead.  Somehow Summer preparations in 60° weather don't feel quite right.   We did make some sweet and tasty cookies and cakes though and, this time around, Naiya even delighted in fashioning that dough into a few fruity pies!

She set them out in the garden just so.

And with so many to offer, placed a few in their covered gazebo.

She made a couple of Ojo de Dios as a gift for the Queen.

And cried when Pippin sampled her beautiful display. 

I told her I thought the fairies would likely not mind sharing with all the good living things who venture into our back yard so we went inside to tidy...

And then the sky opened up and the rain began to fall.

Such is Mother Nature with her own sort of magic.
We covered the treats tables with "skylight umbrellas" and all was well.  We shall see what tomorrow brings...

in the garden

In the Spring and Summer we spend a lot of time with Naiya in the back yard.  A lot of our afternoons are spent playing with the fairies, in the sandbox, barbecuing, enjoying meals or gardening as a family.  Naiya has her own little corners of the yard though that she has planted and maintains all by herself.

This area around her play house is filled with flowers and veggies she chose on her own.  It's a mish mash display and with all the eating of the fennel leaves and picking of the most beautiful blossoms, I'm not sure how this area will fare through the season.  (Which is, of course, totally alright, since her pleasure was its purpose from the outset.)

A pot on our table that Naiya calls her "special garden" has been dormant for months.  She told me she had planted seeds there and when they started to poke out of the soil I wasn't sure that weeds hadn't simply found a foothold in her little patch of wonder.  When they grew taller, they looked a little less weedy (but were still mysterious) and just this morning these poppies opened up.

Sometimes daddy brings plants home from work for her, because they're a little weird or especially fancy.

Inside the house we often find flies in the windowsills.  Other crawly critters meet their demise out of doors for any number of reasons and our daughter often discovers these bodies in both locales. We have tried to instill a reverence for all life (even the most pesky) in Naiya so when she asked what to do with these bodies I told her returning them to the earth might be nice.  She's had this area for years but only recently asked me to write out some markers for the tiny beings resting there.

may faire

I've written a few times (here, here and here) about the May Faire at Naiya's Waldorf school.  It's my favorite of the seasonal celebrations held there and was a special treat this time around because of the amazingly warm weather that seemed to bring record numbers of community members out to join in the festivities.

The Queen and her court shared Spring's bounty of flowers with the children before their procession to the May Pole.

As always, the day was filled with music, dance, delicious food and wholesome activities for the whole family.

I didn't photograph most of them but this year the classes hosted a number of fun booths including paper boat making and races down the creek, the fashioning of fairie rings, garland braiding, a paper butterfly craft, a cake walk, a "Better Gnomes and Gardens" ring toss, fishing for stones with feet in the wading pool, bean bag tossing and pole fishing for all manner of undersea prizes. 

By day's end we were worn out and, with what seems a precursor to some illness, Naiya's voice was nowhere to be found.  She was tuckered and fell asleep early and easily. 

Yet another Spring welcomed in good company on a glorious day.

may day hair garland

Each year for May Day and for the May Faire at Naiya's school we have been putting together hair garlands to lend a bit of natural decor to our festival garb and liven up our merry making.  I've even posted a garland tutorial.  (Click here if you're interested in checking it out.)

Often, however, these coronets stay in place for a picture or two and then end up on our gathering blanket to wilt in the afternoon sun.  They're lovely and Naiya and I both enjoy putting them together but, she complains, they can be a bit cumbersome and, especially for active children, not really that practical.

That's why this year we decided to try something new.  What you see in the photo above looks like a  garland but is, in fact, just a series of hair clips holding little bunches of flowers onto her hair in a circle round her head!

To make it, I pulled a little hair back from the front of Naiya's head, made a braid on each side and bound the the two plaits in the back.  I then gathered very small flowers into two-ended bunches and clipped them onto the braid in the middle.  She has five clusters round her crown with the largest in the back covering the band where the braids meet.

She loved her "garland" this time around and it stayed in place until her night-time bath.  No wires.  No floral tape.  No complaining.  And put together in about 4 minutes.  I don't know that we'll ever make a proper garland again!

may day

They're back!  Just as in years past, the fairies have chosen today to return in full force and our back yard Queen left Naiya a beautiful bouquet and a sweet gift on the step.

Let us take our baskets early
   To the meadows green,
While the wild-flowers still are pearly
   With the dewdrops' sheen. 
Fill them full of blossoms rosy,
   Violets sweet and gay
Cowslips, every pretty posy
   Welcoming the May. 
Then our lovely loads we'll carry
   Down the village street,
On each door, with laughter merry,
   Hang a basket sweet. 
Hey-a-day-day! It is spring now,
   Lazy folks, awake!
See the pretty things we bring now
   For the May-day's sake!

                                                                                                                    -Evaleen Stein 

A most merry May Day to all!

annual tulip fest

Every year at just this time we glory in the bright, fresh colors of spring at home.

Then our display is sadly eclipsed when we take our annual trip to the ever extravagant Tulip Fest at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, Oregon.

 Right?

 This year was a tad overcast so we didn't get those glorious shots with the beautiful blue sky but the fields were, as always, amazing.

It just puts our little patch of sunshine at home to shame.

Naiya also enjoyed some of the activities available for kids including a bouncy house, trampoline bungee jumping, water pump duck races and a bit of carving of some ol' wooden shoes.

Somehow we missed her favorite Cow Train this time around but did sneak in a serving of cotton candy and enjoyed a fine Oregon Spring day.

The Festival is on until May 5th.  If you're a local, you've still got time!

springtime at the rhododendron garden

It seems like every year I do this same post of the beautiful blossoms sprouting in early Spring at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden.  It is only about five minutes from our house and we enjoy visiting during every season but especially now when the first blooms insist on delighting the senses.

It's no wonder I have to post it every year.  The flowers and I, we just can't help ourselves...

(Anyone know what this sweet little flower is?  So delicate and lovely but none in our party could identify it.)

The World is very old;

But year by year

It groweth new again

When buds appear.

The World is very old,

And sometimes sad;

But when the daisies come

The World is glad.

The World is very old;

But every Spring

It groweth young again,

And fairies sing.

                                                                 - from Flower Fairies of Spring by Cicely Mary Barker

the first day of spring

 Down in the earth in their dark winter bed

Someone is calling, the crocus said,

In colours bright they quickly dressed,

In lavender, purple and gold of the best.

Then out in the grass they dance in a ring

And call to the children, "Come out! It is spring."

-H. Henley                   

from Spring by Wynstones Press                   

festivals of winter

It's Mid-Winter!  Today marks the half-way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox and is celebrated around the world as Imbolc, Candlemas, St. Brigid's Day and Groundhog Day.  (It's also Auntie Erika's and Kate's birthday.  Happy birthday girls!)
I've talked in past years about this day and our celebrations here and here, so I'll not say much this time around except to share this lovely piece of writing from the book series I'm currently reading...

May all enjoy and embrace the returning of the light.

The Winter Feast by Hendrik van the Elder Balen

"Winterfest is as much a celebration of the darkest part of the year as a festival of the returning light.  For the first three days of Winterfest, we pay homage to the darkness.  The tales told and puppet shows presented are those that tell of resting times and happy endings.  The foods are salt fish and smoked flesh, harvested roots and fruit from last summer.  Then, on the midday of the festival, there is a hunt.  New blood is shed to celebrate the breaking point of the year, and new meat is brought fresh to the table, to be eaten with grain harvested from the year before.  The next three days are days that look toward the coming summer.  The looms are threaded with gayer thread, and the weavers take over an end of the Great Hall to vie among themselves for the brightest patterns and lightest weave.  The tales told are ones that tell of beginnings of things, and of how things came to be..."
                              
                                                                    from Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

portland's international rose test garden

Back in 1917, inspired by Georgiana Burton Pittock and 20 miles of rose-bordered streets, Jesse A. Curry (a former Rose Society president) convinced city fathers to inaugurate a rose test garden.  What is now the oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States was born.  

June in our dear City of Roses is this garden's month of glory...

 We go mostly for the smelling.

But its a great sensory experience all around.