Holy Cyclops

The saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers,” but we not only haven’t had a lot of April showers; we also haven’t had to wait until May for an explosion of flowers!  Our daffodils bloomed early and then wilted, but I’ve seen other people’s still in bloom while riding around the neighborhood with my younger nephew.  I only remember solid yellow daffodils from my childhood, but now there seem to be lots of white ones with orange trumpets (well, what’s the proper name for the middle part of a daffodil?).  Tulips are in bloom—we have a few red ones in back of our house, but elsewhere I’ve seen not only red ones but also white ones and yellow ones and reddish-pink ones and purple ones!  Every time I see purple tulips, I’m pleased.  I like purple.

We have azaleas blooming on a couple of bushes out front—red.  We have violets blooming.  We have lovely five-petaled lavender blooms, with red dots on one of the five petals, all over another bush out front.  I’ve tried to identify it, but the closest I could find online was some sort of hibiscus, which it doesn’t really seem to be.  Some people are growing yellow pansies and purple pansies.  And how could I forget my childhood favorites, which many people dislike but which I have always loved:  Dandelions!  (Speaking of dandelions:  If you ever get the chance, read Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine.  It’s unlike his other writing, and very good.)  I like their yellow against the green grass—the Green Bay Packers wear green and gold uniforms, and I’ve always rooted for them—and I like their scent.  Maybe it’s a remembered-boy thing.

Trees’ flowers are blooming, too.  And, of course, leaves are unfurling.  My nephew noticed today the beginnings of mulberries, although it will presumably be a little while before they’re ready to be picked.  My brother used to like my mother’s raspberry pies and blackberry pies so much that he used to brave the thorns of the woods out back to pick them, coming back with arms covered with scratches.  He lives in Florida now, but my nephew and I picked lots of mulberries last year, to be baked in mulberry-and-rhubarb pies.  We discovered that picked mulberries quickly grow moldy—even when refrigerated!  They have to be frozen.  But when my brother visited for the Fourth of July last year, he got to eat pies he liked.

But for now, they’re just beginning.  The flowers, on the other hand, are in bloom.