Spring memories.........

As a young boy on the farm, it was my chore to fetch a bucket of water from the hand pump out next to the garden.  Money was tight and even though we had running water in the house,  it was actually water that had been pumped up from a farm pond.   We had indoor plumbing and washed with that soft water and washed dishes in it, but we did not drink it.

To go to the pump I had cross our lane and  open a gate into our garden area.  I would walk up a path to get to the well.  Along the way in the spring time, the area became magical.  Once through the gate, on my right was a long row of grape vines and to the left was an old metal container that held flowering sedum.  The plants out there were from a previous owner of the farm and they had planted many different things that would spring up out of the grass.  I could watch the grapevines develop leaves and see the sedum put out its flush of yellow blooms.

The daffodils were the most magical to me as they didn't seem like a real flower.  They were all yellow with the yellow trumpet and the leaves were lily like.   To a farm boy seeing them sprout out of the then short orchard grass made it seem mysterious.  As time went on, tulips would sprout and bloom and the parrot tulips also would bloom.  They were wonderful with all their rich colors displayed. It was always a concern of mine as to who the people were that planted them. How and where did they find such wonderful things to grow?  The crab apple tree that was planted next to the pump would fill with pink blooms and later snow onto the ground it's flower petals. Eventually everything would stop blooming and we would mow down the orchard grass and all was just a memory until the next spring.

Forsythia bloomed profusely in southern Iowa and it was always a joy to see the large bush next to my sand pile showing off it's bright color of yellow.  I do remember one spring when it was in full bloom and it snowed in the night covering it up with a blanket of white.

Above is my birch tree and one of my forsythia bushes.  This is the best they have looked in years as I normally don't get many blooms from my bushes.

I have many stories I would love to share about the kids I work with at school.  Sometime I will share about this genius boy who just knows so much while being stuck as a sixth grader.  He made me smile and glad I could meet him.  I taught all six, seventh and eight grade science these past two days and I hope to have a rest today.  Their energy levels are high and they sap me dry after while with all of excitement of life.  I need to sit down and sip coffee for a day and get some work done at home.

Thanks for stopping by........