Two large, colorful, beautiful Monarch butterflies just flew about the backyard, diving and swooping, flirtatiously fluttering for full effect. 

I, in turn, thanked them wholeheartedly for stopping by (clapping and cheering at their arrival) and have given them full use of the yard at their discretion.  “Bring friends,” I encouraged.  For until I have filled the pots with annuals (we mustn’t let temptation for color coax us into doing this earlier than Mother’s Day here in Zone 5), the Monarchs shall be the kaleidescope of wonder.

The birds seem ever-so-slightly put out at my response to the lovlies, having provided song and sweetness for months now.  But they will get over it when they see what I have in mind for them…

To be continued….

Post Script ~ The conflict with the interloping garlic chives continues this year.  As if I did not not win some of the battles last season?  They are as fat and invasive as ever.

Mr 3-pound Toad had still been in hiding as of yet this spring.  But major construction development and rehabilitation of his neighborhood (trying desperately to remove the hollyhocks from the pond area and move them waaaaaay back by the fence) exposed his fat-winter self.  Interestingly, it also revealed my reading glasses, missing now for three days. 

Coincidence?  I think not.  It was him or the big, juicy worm. 

  trying to hide

I’ll be watching them.  And reading again.

[French} Le moi d’Avril = The month of April [English]

“April is the cruelest month,

breeding lilacs out of the dead land,

mixing memory and desire,

stirring dull roots with spring rain.”  ~ T. S. Elliott

google images

Tiny leaves and buds have appeared on the miniature lilac near the patio.  I love lilacs (part of the unruly olive family).  LOVE them!  Did you know that, situated properly in full sun and well-drained soil they can last for centuries?  Someday I intend to have a secret writing garden surrounded by lilacs where I shall where a yellow dress and sip tea, eschewing all forms of modern technology.  Yes.  I will do this.

You may visit me there, but your phone is not welcome.

“Music to my ears.”

Means:  It was exactly what I wanted to hear.  I like that. 

Do you hear what I hear?

Last week during our “school time,” Guini and I looked up www.redlobster.com to see what they had happening {LOBSTERfest!}.  You have GOT to go to their site.  The sound, all hot and sizzling and wood-crackling, is magnificent.  Guini watched the home page for several minutes, mesmerized, her mouth watering as she watched and listened.  She licked her lips. 

Wow.  Red Lobster did that well.  They just added the sound of their food to the look of it.  Can the scent be far behind?  Is that the next thing our computers will bring to us?

I’d actually already started this LIST of sounds I love a couple months back just because I love lists.  You know how certain sounds can grate against your nerves and others can make you smile?   I mean, the grandkids getting the giggles brings absolute, unbridled joy to me.  A haunting violin melody in minors can stir deep emotion and melancholy.  But of course, ‘nails on on a chalkboard’…(ew)…And who can deny the effect a certain song has on you when it comes on the radio.  Suddenly you’re 17 again, transported back in time and even though you’re driving the grandkids around, you are there again- young and in love with love, not a wrinkle on your face, as if you have never received mail from the AARP.

Fast Company recently reported on a study that says that though a baby’s giggle is still the most addictive sound to people these days, right behind that is a vibrating phone (which was initially considered to be “silent” but indeed has its’ own sound-which we all immediately recognize) and the things that follow are also techie-sounds now: Intel, T-Mobile ringtone, AT & T ringtone, stuff like that.  It used to be things like birds singing or the waves of the ocean, but the last 10 years have changed things.  Wow, we are going to lose some of the melody of life, I fear.  At the very least the song is changing quickly.

 XSssssssssssss……..

After Guinivere and I visited the seafood restaurant’s website, I thought of adding Red Lobster’s homepage to my list because they definitely hit on a sound I enjoy, but instead, Guini and I just met Tara and Hunter and Mandy and Auburn there for lunch today.  Because a sound can pull you in.  It did.  The shrimp was sizzling and salty, lemon squeezed over rich, tangy garlic butter; the delicately seasoned seafood linguine, sublime, mmmmmm.  Wish I could give you a taste.  But instead, here is my favorite sounds list.  What are yours – do YOU hear what I hear??

Best cousins, Guini and Hunter.  Guini, Hunter and Auburn at the old Northglenn Red Lobster.

My JOYful sounds LIST!~

1. Bacon sizzling.
2. “That’s my Nonna.”  Hunter said to a friend. *smile…
3. GemGem doing ‘babytalk’ as we pretend she’s still  a baby (to me she is).
4. Rushing river barreling by while I sit in the sun on the cabin deck just above Peaceful Valley.
5. Crackling fire.
6. A crackling fire with dry leaves rustling about (autumn).
7. Steaks on the grill.
8. The family splashing in the backyard pool.
9. Birds singing.  Or just yapping their heads off.
10. The breeze through early summer leaf-full trees.
11. A cow mooing in a field.
12. Crickets on a summer night.  Whether they are singing, rubbing their legs together, trying to get a date or all of the above, that is a summer evening!
13. A baseball game, the crack of the bat on the ball.
14. A genuine conversation between caring people with no sarcasm involved (which usually means I am only listening).
15. Tredessa’s slender fingers flying over her keyboard, 120 wpm.
16. The washer and dryer running.  There is a simple, rhythmic sequence ~ that pulsatory sound of water reverberating through the house. 
17. Thunder.
18. Rolling thunder, especially. And a steady rain on the roof before sun-up.
19. Opening a can of Diet Pepsi.  Pouring it over ice.
20. Fireworks on the 4th of July.  Not so much 9 days later, though.
21. My kids singing.
22. My grandkids telling me anything.  Anything at all.  Their voices are like honey to me…
23. The resounding roar of laughter and discovery, teasing and competing, jokes and stories and grandkids-swinging-from-chandeliers at the many, many family dinners and celebrations we enjoy.  We’re not a quiet, formal bunch.  It gets loud and rambunctious.
24. A heartbeat.  The steady throb reaches to the soul and tells the undeniable truth. 
25. Pillow talk.  Kind words.  Promises.  I love you. 
26. Silence.  Yes, there is a sound to silence.  I used to be afraid of it, uncomfortable in letting it continue too long (like radio “dead air,” which you never want), so I’d fill it with lots of sound from some source or another.  But now?  I love the sound of it.  I cherish the white beauty of it and how it frames the rest of what I hear in silk-soft puffiness.  Muting and muffling the harsh, protecting and presenting the sweet.  Silencio, please…

Shhhhhh….listen.

Oh, and, Happy Birthday, David Cassidy ~ whose singing still tops my list of things I love to hear!