Thursday, April 6, 2017

The Month of April

My daughter Mary who is now fifty years old.

April is . . .
               April is ephemeral spring beauties peeking
                           through worn out leaves.
               It’s backyard birds competing
                           in a choral contest
               And rain and squishy mud underfoot

               April is daffodils and narcissus competing
                           to produce the first bloom.
               It’s red-winged blackbirds swaying
                           on cattails by the pond
               And proliferating potholes.

               April is a school playground of discarded jackets
                           like a disordered rummage sale.
               It’s running sap, running ponies,
                           running noses
               And the return of phoebes and spring peepers.

               April is bright crocuses dancing
                           through the gardens.
               It’s that late order for seeds sent
                           to Pinetree Gardens
               And rubber boots as a fashion statement.

               April is Canada geese abandoning V formations
                           to fly in couples.
               It’s multiple motorcycles roaring                                                                                                                    down the road            
               And digging out rakes, pruners, and garden gloves.

               April is raccoons, possums, and skunks
                           littering the highways.
               It’s new green and the yellow of forsythia
                           April is warm air, new hope, cheerful smiles
               And snow covering daffodils.

A pussy willow tree by my barn.


April is all of those things in my poem and Easter, too, as well as April Fools’ Day something kids love and third grade teachers. After the crazy March we had around here, I only hope there are very few April showers. We had enough of those in March to keep the ground saturated for months. So I’m looking for a sunnier and warmer April than we had in March although there were strange days in March that even got up to seventy degrees and a few days later went down to below twenty degrees.

I was told it will be a collection piece.


In March four people I knew died, and I went to three funerals in three weeks, two in one week.
In March I finally got a cover for my 8th book after waiting over a month for it. Unfortunately, my step-granddaughter misspelled the name Phyllis on the cover, and I didn’t notice it until I ordered 25 copies of the book. I’m hoping she’ll soon correct that so I can change it.

In April I hope to finish book nine that I started while waiting for the cover of book eight.








In April I’m looking forward to Easter at my sister’s house where my only contribution will be pickles and olives.  Elaine loves to cook and is very good at it. I only cook when absolutely necessary anymore, and that’s usually something I can eat for three or four days. I figure after all the years of cooking for others it’s okay to cut back on that. I will be taking potted flowers for everyone.



This is just a very small amount of my branches.

In April I will be busy cleaning up the huge amount of branches small, big and huge from the area all around my house. They came down from the very strong winds that hit our area numerous times in March. I also need to start cleaning up my many gardens around the house.

In April I’ll be going one Sunday to St. William’s card party. There will be enough prizes for everyone attending and lots of good food to eat. I’ll be having fun playing cards with a friend, cousin, and sister-in-law. I miss playing cards since half of the friends I played cards with have died.
The Happy Days Lodge was built years ago.

In April I’ll be going to a folk concert at Happy Days Lodge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park with my good friend and fellow folk music lover, Dianne.

In April I have at least one birthday party I’ll be attending. It’s for my one year old great-grandson Santino. I may hear of more, but that’s all for now.





My pony Pufffy grazing by my blueberry bushes in bloom.

In April some of the flowering trees and bushes will start blooming.

In April I’m hoping I can get many more walks in my woods than I was able to get for the past few months because of the weather.
But what I’m looking forward to most is the end of April when I’ll be attending my tenth Malice Domestic Conference for the tenth year.  I’ll again be a moderator for Murder Small Town, and I’m already reading the books of my panelists and enjoying them.



What do you like about April?


                                                                          
                                                  


11 comments:

  1. What a lovely post, Gloria. Sounds like you have a busy April planned!

    I haven't seen pussy willows since I was a child. I'd forgotten about them.I think they must have a middle states range. Anyone know? We don't have them in Florida -- not this part at least and we don't have in them in Maine -- not the crown at least. I miss forsythia too. We do have those in my part of Maine, but not in this part of Florida. Those were my annual spring harbingers.

    Enjoy the month and have a great time at Malice.

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  2. Kait, my pussy willow tree is already full of those little fuzzy things. I haven't seen the
    bumble bees all over them yet like most years probably because I've heard bumble bees are in trouble and disappearing. I didn't mention that several of my magnolia trees - which I'm sure you have in Florida - already have flower buds ready to open soon. The last line in my poem ia coming true tomorrow - snow on daffodils. :-(

    I wish you could be going to Malice. Maybe next year?

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  3. When I lived in northern Ohio, it would invariably snow on Palm Sunday. Enjoy your spring!

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  4. Spring flowers are starting to show.

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  5. I love April. On the 2nd it was my husband Ryan's 60th birthday and I woke him up with his usual treat breakfast of scrambled eggs and asparagus. We had friends round for lunch and over indulged in lemon curd pavlova!

    It's just as well the weather is improving and we are getting out more for walks. Today it was warm enough to go out and walk on the cliffs without a jacket.

    It's years since I've seen pussy willows too, but they were a part of my childhood.

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  6. Margaret, it's been rather warm the last few days, but tomorrow the last line of my poems is going to happen - snow on daffodils.

    Warren, that always uplifts the spirits, doesn't it. How can one not rejoice in each new
    flower that blooms?

    Ann, that's one of the things I like about spring. I'm still hoping that someday I'll come back to England to visit you and to walk on those cliffs with you. I didn't realize pussy willows were native to England. I wonder if those in our country were brought over from England.

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  7. Gloria, I loved your poem. We did have snow on the daffodils :( I hope they make it. Nature is tough, so I'm hopeful.
    I love the way everything is suddenly so green in April. And the pussy willows! I haven't thought of them in years. Pussy willows and forsythia always make spring so obvious.
    Love Mary's picture - especially her daffodil yellow socks.

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  8. We got the biggest snowfall of the year after the daffodils had started to bloom. It did break some stalks (I have lots of daffodils blossoming nicely as they lay on the ground) but now the forsythia is out and the later daffodils are starting. Yesterday I was driving down a back road, and almost every property had a row of forsythia and hundreds of daffodils. It was spectacular.

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  9. Thank you, Shari. We're supposed to get snow tonight. However, the daffodils seem to survive it. I love that picture of my daughter, too.

    KM, several times I've planted forsythia, and for some reason it never made it very long. I don't know why it doesn't. What a beautiful view that had to been. Everyone's daffodils around here were very stunted at first because of the weather - not so much the flowers but the stalks were shorter on most of them.

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  10. I have my fingers crossed for Malice next year. April is a hard month for me to get vacation since so many of the people I work with have school age children and Malice often co-incides with spring break hear. I have seniority and can pull rank, but I would feel awful doing that. I am hopeful for two conferences next year. I want to try to attend at least one in Florida and one away.

    No magnolias here, at least none that I have seen. Daffodils. Oh, gorgeous and my favorites. Enjoy it for me and don't forget to share pictures.

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  11. Kait, I hope you can go next year. It's only for four days so maybe you can get away. Here in the north most of the spring breaks are earlier than the end of April or the first of May. A Florida conference would be within driving distance for you, I imagine.

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