Spring Has Sprung

One of the good things about being back in the northeast is the existence of four distinct seasons. I like that. We are now fully in the throes of a beautiful, fresh green spring. It's taken the trees a while to get with the program, but our view is slowly being taken away by leaves. I'm ok with that.

My favorite botanical part of spring -- by far -- is the bright shiny appearance of daffodils. I love daffies of all sizes and color combinations (although I don't really love doubles; a terrible thing to do to a daffodil). So we recently made a trip south to Longwood Gardens to admire the daffies at their peak. I meant to take the camera, but forgot it and was at the mercy of Michael and the iPhone for photos. I think he took less than 20. So sad. But here are a few of them for your viewing pleasure:

Darcy and the forsythia. 

The toothless garden princess. Wish it was a better view of her missing upper teeth!

In a field of small blue flowers.

In the amazing conservatory, where there is an expanded, awesome kids area since I last visited these gardens.

And finally, the bathrooms. Yes, this beautiful hall of living walls is the new(er) bathroom wing of the conservatory. Each of these doorways leads to a spherical, bright red private bathroom. They're awesome. You can see the interior here. (There are also YouTube videos of the bathrooms, but that seems excessive.)

We had a great day. If you live within striking distance of Kennett Square, PA, where the garden is located, you should treat yourself and go visit sometime. It was a great way to welcome and enjoy spring in the northeast.

World War I Reminders

Some of my regular readers might know that April 25th is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, commemorating the day when the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) troops first landed at Gallipoli. By the time that unsuccessful campaign ended, 8,700 Australian soldiers and 2,700 Kiwi soldiers had died. 

The campaign has been immortalized in film (Gallipoli, one of Mel Gibson's positive contributions to cinema) and song (I'll get to that in a bit). If you've never watched Gallipoli and feel a need to renew your anti-war stance, Gallipoli will do it. As I've learned this year, so will almost anything else that gives a moderately realistic view of the horrors of trench warfare. I had read some classic World War I fiction and poetry in the past, but this year seems to be the year of the first world war for me and the inhumanity of war has screamed out loud and clear.

In particular, Birdsong, a novel by Sebastian Faulk, caught me off-guard. It's part of the famous list of posts past. Yes, I'm still working my way through those hundred books. Many of the books I haven't read are books I know very little about, so when I borrowed Birdsong from the library, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Turns out that much of the novel is very graphic description of life in and under the trenches, with several key characters being members of a unit working to tunnel under and blow up the German trenches.

Much less graphic, but still a vivid reminder was, of all things, Downton Abbey's WWI episodes. They were the first bookend of my fictional foray into the trenches. I don't think I've yet come to the end of it and that's ok. As awful as it was to see and read about the horrors and incredible waste of trench warfare, it was infinitely worse to live (or die) through it or any other war and it's important to remember the sacrifices and work to make sure there aren't more in the future.

And so, on the American eve of ANZAC Day (it's almost over in the countries that actually celebrate it already), I'll leave you with a very classic song about Gallipoli, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, as performed very nicely by The Pogues.