Long ago, in the late 90's when we moved to South Florida, my inner visual artist was excited by the quality of the light which was so different than the light of Lowcountry South Carolina. Yesterday, as I took my walk through the abundance of blooms in the DC neighborhood near my seminary, I thought about changing landscapes through the seasons, a different kind of delight for my inner visual artist.
If you've been reading my blog posts over the past nine months, you've seen me taking note of these changes. Some of them are the product of nature. When we drove away from South Florida last summer, we talked about how green everything was once we escaped Florida. As I've driven back and forth across the mountains, along Interstate 81, I've noticed how the landscape has changed from the deep greens of late summer, to autumnal bronzed brilliance, and now, the spring shape shifting of various trees blooming and blossoming, along with patches of tulips and daffodils.
Yesterday, as I drove back from my Easter break and the Create in Me retreat in the mountains of western North Carolina, I thought about how bucolic the countryside was, in a way different from the drive in March. Back then, I described the landscape this way in this blog post: "green fizz look of the first growth of spring."
The light green has deepened for many of the farm fields. I was surprised by how many flocks of sheep I saw. I also saw horses and cows, but I expected those. As I traveled through the late fall and winter, I didn't see as many animals in the fields, but yesterday was different.
I got back to my seminary apartment, and I was surprised by how many blooms I saw. When I left, almost 2 weeks ago, I thought I had seen the best of spring: the daffodils were beginning to droop, as were the tulips. The cherry trees had finished. I was happy to get to the mountains to realize I hadn't missed the dogwoods.
Turns out, I haven't missed them here in DC either. Yesterday I took a walk and marveled at all the dogwoods and the redbuds that were in full blossom, along with the azaleas--what beautiful azaleas! When those hadn't bloomed in early April, I assumed we just didn't have any. Wow--what a difference 10 days makes!
As I walked through the neighborhood, I thought about how I had seen the houses through the seasons, which ones were decorated for which holidays, what had bloomed through the year. I will miss them, but I am looking forward to getting to know a new landscape.
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