Beauty, Beauty Everywhere!

 

     Imagine the gaudiest procession of bridesmaids dressed in poufs of ruffles and flounce in all different colors. Wedding guests would whisper at the fashion faux pas of such a thing and consider it to be an overindulgence.  However, when Spring puts on such a show, we can't get enough! Everything is in bloom right now; daffodils, crabapple, redbud, tulips, wild mustard, cherry, and pear. It's a crazy riot of color and we love it. The periwinkle and ajuga ground covers add purple and blue from below and yellow daffodils and trees in every shade of pink bloom along the interstate. Even the new grass in its bright shade of lime green adds vibrancy to the color palette. This morning, in the dim light of dawn, the pink crab apple tree looks like it's covered in snow. The red crab apple tree is bloomed in a pink that is beyond description. Every time I walk past the window it startles me. I try to soak it all in and save the memory of it. I want to recall it long after it's passed. Inevitably the memory fades and I forget about the vibrancy of color during the dead of winter because I am startled and surprised anew by it each spring. I suppose that's the way it is with new life. It's meant to excite and stir us (and the bees) into action.

     This week I paid a visit to a couple I hadn't seen in several months. They had some health issues last year and I last visited after the gentleman had come home from the hospital. He has recovered very well and it was good to lay eyes on them and have a catching up visit. Julida served me a piece of cake on a china plate and a glass of sweet tea poured over ice in a cut glass goblet. While I sat at the table, she brought me their guest book to sign. What an old fashioned idea! It made me giggle to think of signing my name. That thought was quickly overtaken by how to present a nice signature. It's rare to have to present a pretty signature fitting of a guest book. After I signed the book, she took out her camera to snap my photo. I gave her my best smile and said that I would not let so much time pass until my next visit. 

     After I left from my visit, I drove to a dry cleaners in Roanoke called Wheelers. It has been there since 1950 and it looks like it has not changed one bit. It smells like the dry cleaners I remember from childhood. It has a warm, hot-iron-on-clothing smell. It makes me feel warm and cozy. The geared and numbered clothing racks pass behind the front counter and snake up and around the high warehouse-like ceiling of the place. I imagine they can accommodate a lot of laundry and the racks looked fairly full. I had dropped off eleven yards of white denim to be washed and pressed before sending it to a seamstress who will sew slipcovers for me. The owner handed my package to me across the front counter. My fabric came back to me as a large parcel neatly wrapped in brown paper. The paper was sturdy, yet thin and crispy to handle. It was an old fashioned bundle and I bet this is exactly how they have been returning bundles of cleaning to customers since 1950. I had to break the seal to make sure I had the correct item but I hated doing it. I wanted to keep the parcel just as it was. 

     All these little incidents of the day were wonderful as they occurred. Simple, old timey things like sweet tea in cut glass, a guestbook, and paper wrapped laundry. These are such grounding things to me, things that say life has not changed so much after all. Spring will always come, we can rely on it. We can also choose to make beauty happen by taking the time to serve cake on china if we feel like it and wrapping parcels in brown paper if it makes us happy.