Signs of Spring

"I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden." ~Ruth Stout

By late February, my spirit yearns for warmth, color, the earth reborn...A flush of green tinges the meadow, a hopeful indication. I've started seeds in the greenhouse and, to my delight, most are coming up. Baby violas are potted in readiness, with the promise of more diminutive pansies to follow. Flats of sweet alyssum will go out among the earliest flowers to perfume the air and attract pollinators. Spinach and cabbage seedlings await transplanting. Parsley is showing its face. I'll seed more herbs and vegetables soon, like heirloom lettuce, basil, sweet peppers, and tomatoes. I may even start peas indoors this year because our soil is so wet they may rot otherwise. We've had a drenched winter after last year's drought, and the weather shows no indication of letting up. No one wants a drought again, just 'normal' weather. Daughter Elise and I are sorting through seed packets from last year and carefully ordering more. The greenhouse will soon burst with new life.

"Every spring is the only spring — a perpetual astonishment." ~Ellis Peters

In the flower beds, the tiny white snowdrop buds will open into pendulous bells. Fuzzy catkins line pussywillow branches like the tiny kittens they're named for. Daffodils, tulips, and the green points of crocus leaves are emerging. Early snow crocus will soon appear. It's my dream, as Elise knows, to have masses of crocus everywhere, filling the yard. How splendid that would be. A great trumpet of spring.

"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow." ~Proverb

On the book front:

For the first time since its publication by the Wild Rose Press in July 2017, Somewhere My Lady is on sale at all major online booksellers with the exception of Kobo and was a featured Bookbub deal. Sale ends March 1st.

Story Blurb:

Lorna Randolph is hired for the summer at Harrison Hall in Virginia, where Revolutionary-War reenactors provide guided tours of the elegant old home. She doesn't expect to receive a note and a kiss from a handsome young man who then vanishes into mist.

Harrison Hall itself has plans for Lorna – and for Hart Harrison, her momentary suitor and its 18th century heir. Past and present are bound by pledges of love, and modern science melds with old skills and history as Harrison Hall takes Lorna and Hart through time in a race to solve a mystery and save Hart's life before the Midsummer Ball.~

Somewhere My Lady is on sale for 0.99 from 2/15 through 3/01 at:

Amazon in Kindle at: https://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-Lady-Ladies-Time-Book-ebook/dp/B071VTNC7V

At Barnes & Noble  in Nookbook at: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/somewhere-my-lady-beth-trissel/1126418713?ean=2940157225872

At iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/somewhere-my-lady/id1241587669

At Google Play:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Beth_Trissel_Somewhere_My_Lady?id=1JoqDwAAQBAJ&hl=en

"Spring stirs under silent snow." ~Terri Guillemets

***Images from last spring's garden

Chronicling Spring in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia

I am a gardener, animal lover, author... Fortunately, I haven't had to choose a single focus and incorporate my loves into my writing. Among my greatest passions is the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in general, and our farm in particular. The meadows are covered in a wash of green and looking far more hopeful than the brown hue we've lived with since November A blanket of snow is pretty but we haven't had much snowfall this year. Thank heavens the rain has returned after months of drought.

Our drained and dug out farm pond is finally beginning to fill back up again. It was a dry crater all fall and winter like something on the moon. The barnyard geese were suspicious at first, but now go for swims. We are watching for the migrating waterfowl and birds who were once regular visitors here. Sadly, our place was off their radar last spring. Having an alive pond again is exciting. We're consulting experts about what to do regarding fish, and I'm toying with getting ducks. The original pond had filled with silt over the decades and had to be redone. It's located in a marshy spot in the meadow fed by wet water springs and is the head waters of Cooks Creek, which ultimately feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. Fencing keeps the cows out. We have planted some trees and shrubs around it and will plant more.

(Geese enjoying the new grass. Ruins of an old barn visible back behind our farm)

I'm in my 'giddy about the earth awakening mode', or was, until the wind storm hit. My spirits are a little battered, and the crocus are kind of sad after the roaring bluster. But I trust the blossoms will revive and new ones will open when this gale finishes with us and sweeps away. March really roared in this year. Inclement weather is a trial to gardeners everywhere. We hopeful souls go on. We must. I'm chronicling spring as it unfolds in my bit of earth.

Early crocus and snowdrops below.

I saved a lot of seeds last year, ordered many others, and started some early varieties of flowers, herbs, and vegetables in my little greenhouse. One late February day was so balmy, it felt like May. I planted my early salad greens in the garden during the warm spell. Then the lion returned, and the seeds will slumber until the warmth comes back.

"Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps;
Perennial pleasures plants, and wholesome harvest reaps."
~A. Bronson Alcott, "The Garden," Tablets, 1868

"It was such a pleasure to sink one's hands into the warm earth, to feel at one's fingertips the possibilities of the new season." ~Kate Morton, The Forgotten Garden

(Miniature iris return faithfully each year)

(Yellow crocus)

***For more on me follow my Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Trissel/e/B002BLLAJ6/