The seasons first inward reflections hit me while on a walk with my son this morning. With the high temperature today set to hit over 80 for the first time since last September, I was poised for a walk. The call of Mother Earth is at her strongest for me when she wakes up and judging from the sights and sounds of the neighborhood, she is indeed waking. Being able to see all of the different colored flowers in bloom is something I treasure each year. One of my favorite blooms are the ones that come alive on Magnolia trees. There is about a week or two, usually in early May here in Michigan, where they burst wide open and are far and away the most beautiful thing in your line of sight. The bright white or pink blossoms demand your attention as soon as they come into view. Move a little closer and they will pull you in by the nose as the fragrance created is rivaled only by that of the lilac in my opinion. As of right now, these trees blossoms are just starting to open up. I am lucky as my neighborhood here in Lansing has a large amount of these trees.
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| Magnolia: Tree of the heavens. |
Looking at the picture above you can only begin to imagine the smells and scent that one would inhale while standing underneath such a sight. The sense of smell has always been my strongest sense and so many times keys memories for me. The smell of spring/summer is one that I can't fully describe but is always one that resonates the most for me. It is the smell of flowers, dirt, fresh cut grass and so many other little things mixed in together to create a bouquet for the soul. I was fortunate enough to catch this today. Or rather, it caught me. I even cut my walk short to take the boy to Horrocks in search of some flowers to put in my own yard. If you are not aware, Horrocks is a wondeful farmers market type of store here in Lansing with a large greenhouse full of different flowers, fruits and vegetables. Normally, I'm not one to buy flowers. I prefer to grow them on my own from seed. But my impatience got the best of me as I am tired of waiting for my flower seeds to pop up and half of my lawn look like just plain dirt while others have all of these wonderful bulbs and flowers. I ended up purchasing yellow pansies and blue violas. As soon as Jack went down for nap, I went out and planted them in an every other one border pattern around my yard just to serve as something pretty until the rest of the flowers grow. Please ignore the rest of the barren landscape. Hopefully in a month or twos time there will be a lot of wild flowers growing where there is now bare dirt.
Another thing this time of year makes me do is think about my own life and how I am living it and how I want to live it. I recently made a choice to live a healthier lifestyle. I've eaten fairly healthy for the last few years but now I've decided to keep more track of what I am eating. I've also been going to the gym regularly coupled with other activities and exercises such as walks as previously mentioned and also gardening which is surprisingly effective and can make you break a good sweat. I have also cut out alcohol, more by necessity than choice as I have ulcerative colitis and alcohol doesn't do good things for it.
I am approaching 30 and am a father. These two things will get you thinking about your future life and how you want it to look. I have decided to be as proactive as possible about my health. I'll spare all of the thoughts but a nice walk is good for thinking of the bigger things in life and sorting out what matters the most.
I'll need to cut this short as my son is currently waking up FAR too early from his nap. But as a cliff hanger I will say that my next post will have some pictures (if they upload!) of some of the crops/sprouts. Until then, enjoy this weather, enjoy life, enjoy each other.
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