Wow, it was exactly one year ago today that I did the post that started my
Second Look series.Who knew that I would only miss one week out of the entire year documenting things I found in the yard? I wasn't sure when I started that I would keep it up after the bright flowers stopped blooming, but each week there was a discovery that kept me going back. (Although on some of those cold and gloomy days, it took a lot of motivation to get up and out.) After a year, I thought it was good time to start something else in place of a Second Look. However, yesterday I found cherry trees blooming (more about them next week) that I don't remember seeing before and I was very excited. So for now, the Second Looks will continue because I keep finding things that make me smile.
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A second look at the first Second Look
April 18, 2011
Spring has sprung! The flowers are emerging from the ground. The pollen is dropping from trees. Plentiful April showers are determined to bring May flowers.
Spring was an enchanted time for my children when we first moved to the four season climate that we live in now. Up until this point in their lives, they had lived along the Gulf Coast where the seasons were marked by whether or not you wore a light jacket or were drenched in sweat. The emerging of the crocus, the blooming of the daffodils, and the sprouting of new green leaves were things they had never seen before. When they came home from school, they would call me out into the yard and we would go on a treasure hunt to find what new flowers were blooming. It was an exciting time for all as we got to know our new surroundings. This excitement lasted all summer that first year.
Then as time wore on and the weeds seemed to be encroaching menacingly on our beautiful flowers, our emphasis changed. We began to notice the weeds more than the flowers. The kids got more interested in video games than plants and the names that I taught them of the colorful blooming flora in the beginning became the yellow one and the purple one. In other words, our enchantment was gone. Spring moved into the background as all things seem to do after awhile.
Then this Spring, we had a taste of that excitement again. While cutting daffodils to bring inside, we discovered that instead of just some white ones and some yellow ones, we actually had 6 different varieties. Who knew? With the second look at the daffodils, we noticed other things growing around them. We noticed which ones bloomed early and which ones were just budding. We noticed which plants the deer had been nibbling on. We noticed the birds. Wow! There's a lot of activity going on outside this time of year if you take time to notice.
It may not last long, but for just a little while we were all like the young kids my sons were that first year. I hope we can remember to take a second look at things around us then and again.Who knows what we'll find?
