Wake-Up Call!
But quietly, at the edge of the woods, looking just a bit LIKE the Garlic Mustard, but with a decided bunch of POINTS to her textured leaves are the clumps of MOTHERWORT who just barely dozed all winter. I watched her from my kitchen window. All winter long I knew where she was, as she'd green up the second the little snow we had disappeared.
I saw my first VIOLET on Saturday, but had my hands too full to eat one. Pity, I've always made a point to eat the first violet I see each year. (that's what I love about little HomeGrown rituals, if you miss it, you can always catch it when it comes around again on the GEEtar.)
But one mad ritual I WON'T miss, I don't care WHAT this cranky bunch of party poopers says, is standing Equinox Eggs on end. Although we're ready to RECITE that the EQUINOX is the day that day and night are the same length, and therefore everything (including eggs) are in balance, check any chart of sunrise/sunset and you'll see that isn't QUITE true. The exact time of the EQUINOX (2:15PM EST this year) is when the CENTER of the sun passes the equator. Since we measure sunrises as when the TOP of the sun appears at some arbitrary place, and sunset as when the LAST of the sun DISAPPEARS, it gets pretty sloppy, so don't WORRY about it.
As soon as I begin to prepare for the mad Egg-Standing party, I remember all the OTHER gatherings, all the laughing, all the cheaters who put salt on the table, or tried to stand them up in the RUG, or found a little dent in the wooden floor. One year a small child was so delighted by all the eggs standing on end all over the livingroom that she neatly GATHERED them all.....I may have to borrow the neighbor's DOGS upstairs for the one that invariably meets up with the FLOOR. So LIGHTEN UP, you scientific BORES, we need all the silliness we can get, especially NOW.
Go stand those eggs on end! (it's easier if they're at room temp)
Go eat those violets!
Go give a forsythia a kiss on the nose! (and if you find its nose, let me know, I can't find it ANYwhere...)
It's Spring! It's Spring! And the birds are on the WING! (but I always thought the wings
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