March arrives with a flurry of weather activity. Rain,
snow, wind, and the occasional sun shining down upon us. Yes, March is as
fickle as they come. March does not know if she should continue with the
arrival of spring and a sprinkling of faeries in the garden or cover us with inches
of snow. Yes, we are waiting for that one! Winter was just a bit too easy for
us this year!
March is named for the god of war and yet it brings the
promise of spring, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter (this year), and the rumblings
underground of what is next to come. Searching through the leaves of Autumn
yesterday, I cam across the arrival and blooming of my crocuses pushing their
blooms through the leaves and garden debris to add color to my winter landscape.
The forsythia bushes are next along with the daffodils. Daffodils are not just
for beauty; they have great properties that are used in bioresearch these days.
Daffodils are the flower of March and the national flower of Wales. According
to Greek mythology Narcissus fell into a pool and drowned and the first
daffodil appeared. Of course, this is mythology and fun for research although I
think of my own daffodils as a cheery end of winter and a hello to spring.
William Wordsworth wrote about daffodils in his beautiful poem, “Spring.” This
lyric poem was written in 1804 after he and his sister, Dorothy, came across a
field of daffodils in Grasmere, England. The poem was first published in 1807
and is a staple in my cache of spring poems. Once in England, during the
spring, I went to Grasmere to see the daffodils, and oh, they fill the
hillsides with outstanding beauty…just as Wordsworth said!
March does have its own wicked side as we think of Julius
Caesar. Of course, the murder of Julius Caesar on the 15th of March
gave us all the saying, “Beware the Ides of March.” We thank you William
Shakespeare for that bit of knowledge! Do you remember acting that out in
history class? At least for fun anyway as Caesar was stabbed 23 times. All I
can say is that he was warned!
March brings the Oscars to those of us who really care
about movies! Carolyn and I have been watching these award-winning movies for
years and spend the winter knee deep in movies. We don’t even wait for the
nominations! We start in the summer with the films we think will make the list.
This year we scored high on those films. Once the nominations are in, we begin
the frenzy of getting all of those films watched. It is not easy as we have to
move around quite a bit to movie theatres and some on-line. We watch as many as
we can at our local theatre, of course. The Brokaw is always our go-to, but we
must be creative to get to all the films. On Sunday, a group of us went to The
Tibbits to watch the animated shorts and documentaries. It is always fun to do
this in a group. We carry our hankies in our pockets and pull them out for this
film or that film. Some are so hard to watch, but all are important pieces of
our own culture. The attendance is sparse for this four-hour event, but I thank
The Tibbits for continually showing them. On Sunday night Carolyn and I, after
marking our own cards, will host our own Oscar party. It is always a fun winter
activity as we cross off movie after movie!
March brings St. Patrick’s Day and Easter which we will
chat about in the future. It also brings the dreaded turn our clocks back
(again!) on Sunday morning. I personally love the time right now, but alas,
alas.
When I was younger, I did not have good thoughts of March.
It was always a fickle time for snow or rain. How many times did we travel
through snowstorms for the basketball sectionals? But over the years of paying
attention to the land, to my gardens, I have learned to appreciate the beauty
of March just the way it is. My dad used to say that in March the faeries begin
their house cleaning, and if we are patient, with our ears to the ground, we can
hear them working. You probably don’t want to go that far but do enjoy March
for the hidden beauty which now springs forth.
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