Emily Brisse

Harshness vanished. A sudden softness has replaced the meadows' wintry grey. Little rivulets of water changed their singing accents. Tendernesses, hesitantly, reach toward the earth from space, and country lanes are showing these unexpected subtle risings that find expression in the empty trees. -- by Rainer Maria Rilke

Here's the truth: I hardly know what to write here, or for that matter really want to write anything, because I am simply so satisfied with the walk I just had. Wildflowers! Nothing against the Snowdrops . They were all about hope, which I desperately needed the day I found them in the Arb, but today there was color everywhere. Yes, still a lot of brown. But also SO MUCH GREEN. So many little plants pushing up up up up up up up. And when I came across these purplely-blue bells and white-blue stars carpeting whole stretches of earth, I literally gasped. That is how much of a nut I am. The Siberian Squill and Striped Squill made my day. They are number two on my Thirty Before Thirty list, and I love them. They remind me of eyelashes. That is all.

Listen, The wind is still, And far away in the night -- See! The uplands fill With a running light. Open the doors. It is warm; And where the sky was clear-- Look! The head of a storm That marches here! Come under the trembling hedge-- Fast, although you fumble... There! Did you hear the edge of winter crumble -- by Mark Van Doren

Loathe as I am to put "snow" in any more titles, I am happy to announce that I have selected the first of my five newly-known plants on my Thirty Before Thirty list: the galanthus nivalis, or snowdrop. Apparently there are over seventy-five varieties of this plant, and all produce white blossoms. Their greatest benefit (besides being so charming) is that they're early risers. One of my dear childhood friends has returned from two years abroad, and when she and I took a stroll through the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum last week, we were disappointed early on to see mostly browns. Stumbling across these snowdrops then was a bit like finding a pot of (white) gold. From now on, when I see them, I will think both of her and the dependability of good things coming back to us.  

Some of my earliest memories involve parks. In fact, I think most of them do. What child doesn't love open spaces or mysterious woodlands to run in? And what adult--well, this adult, anyway--can't appreciate the perfection of a large swathe of land that's only purpose is to be itself? How centering is that? How necessary. So it saddens me to learn how the budget cuts in Minnesota will/might impact these important places. Thanks to Zoologirl for the alert. You really should just go to her blog and read her full response , but below is part of the Star Tribune article she quoted. One-third of state parks could have hours reduced and services slashed under a sweeping environmental bill approved by the Minnesota House and Senate on Tuesday. The Republican-controlled House would cut deepest, but both houses would limit spending for the environment and natural resources during the next two years to about $200 million, a trim of about $40 million from projected spending. The H