Happy Birthday to Me!
Today I turn 62! We are hosting a (sit down) dinner party for 16 on Sunday, the first one in our new house–a christening of sorts. So, I am delaying my birthday celebration until next week…we have A LOT of prep to do the next two days. So much prep that I am going to keep this short and sweet :-)
One more lilac photo before the micro-season disappears until next year.
hold up! I need to photograph that
My husband was making some wood nettle and ramp soup yesterday. This is his pile of carefully selected ramp leaves. Just as he was about to throw them in the soup, they caught my attention. “Hold on!” I yelled. “Those are STILL-worthy.”
Ramps are also known as wild garlic or wild leeks.
ramp leaves (Allium triccocum, and Allium burdickii)
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My mouth waters just looking at these
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bright, shining, sparkling, dazzling, brilliant, glistening
Here’s some interesting etymology on bleeding heart:
The scientific name, Lamprocapnos spectabilis, can be broken up and translated: The Greek term “Lampro-” translates to words such as “bright”, “shining”, “sparkling”, “dazzling”, “brilliant”, or “glistening”, while the Greek term “-capnos” translates to “smoke”. The Greek term “spectabilis” translates to words such as “spectacular”, “showy”, “remarkable”, or “worth seeing”. The literal translation means “Spectacular sparkling smoke”.
Clearly the Greek namers were smitten with bleeding heart.
bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis)
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Pure delight!
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in praise of variants
After a week of seeing only lilac-colored lilacs, these dark purple panicles almost made me veer off the road. Don’t worry, I did not steal them from someones yard, I stole them from my grocery store parking lot..but not in front of the store––these were not intentional landscaping––but back behind the store where the delivery trucks unload. It’s hard to believe these dark beauties were stuck in such an unbecoming location. I guess we can’t choose when or where we are born. But we can make the most of it.
dark purple lilacs (Syringa vulgaris)
blue-green tassels
Here’s a closer look at those spruce tips from yesterday. Beautiful blue-green tassels celebrating another growing season–hooray for seasonality!
Blue spruce new-growth tips
HBTY, MJ! I’d do 62 again in a heartbeat. And 55. And maybe 45… How far back in age would you go if you had to live in the world of today? Would you want to be a 35 year old today? Not me! An interesting topic for your birthday dinner party perhaps? Have a lovely time celebrating, both your birthday and your new home.
Beautiful lilacs :)