Category Archives: Nature

March Showers, April Flowers

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April showers bring May flowers.

For most of North America, spring is very early this year and the year is unfolding in rhythmic consonance but the downbeat is ten minutes before concert time. In spite of April’s alternating waves of warm days and frosty nights, the garden continues to bloom anew each day, bringing cascades of color from both blossom and leaf. Every morning, a walk through the garden is an adventure – “who bloomed today?” Music is percolating in my studio, soon to be revealed – in the meantime, I share this photo record of a beautiful world opening petal by petal, leaf by leaf outside of my door and window.

Spring has returned.  The Earth is like a child that knows poems.  Rainer Maria Rilke

Ajuga in Bloom
Daffodil and Foliage
Daffodil and Spirea
Daffodil La Traviata
Dicentra Goldheart
Down the April Hillside
Fern Head Unfolding
Gateway and Bloodgood Maple
Herb Garden in April
Kerria picta
Redbud Blossoms
Snowbell Blossoms
Up the April Hillside
Violets and Golden Lamium
Virginia Bluebells
Warm April Foliage

Waters of March (Águas de Março)

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And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It’s the promise of life, it’s the joy in your heart – from “Waters of March” by Antonio Carlos Jobim

The Waters of March (Águas de Março ), written by Antonio Carlos Jobim,  reflects the end of summer, which is March in Brazil.  For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it suggests the beginning of spring, “the promise of life in your heart”.

March is here and is it full of the promise of life. As I bend again and again to weed and clear the detritus of winter and uncover the emerging blooms and greening leaves, I hear in my mind the lovely repetitive melody of this sensuous and philosophical song by Jobim, the composer and musician who made Brazilian music accessible to the rest of the planet.

The Waters of March was originally intended to list the passages and events of life that flow and ebb and culminate in the waters of March, a stormy and wet time at the end of summer in the southern hemisphere of Brazil.  In the northern hemisphere, March is also stormy and wet but also the beginning rather than the end of the growing season. As the rain and storms bring us green leaves, bird song, and early blooms, we can consider the beauty of the song and the reality of nature’s astonishing gifts of blossom and promise.  Here are a few images of new life in my garden this week, a stream of life in the waters of March.

‘Tete a Tete’ daffodil
Anemone blanda ‘White Splendor’
Aqua and purple foliage
Bloodroot
Chionodoxa
Cornus mas (native dogwood)
Cornus mas blossom
Double daffodil
Forsythia along fence
Fresh spring foliage
Garden chair
Gold Arborvitea
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’
Korean forsythia
Morning moon
Peach and purple foliage
Red and green sedums
Scilla siberica

“It’s the promise of life in your heart”

The original song sung by Brazilian singer Elis Regina and Jobim, with English subtitles, slow to load but worth watching.

A video of a recording session with Regina and Jobim in an Argentian production that is evidence of pure joy and utter musical communication.

Al Jarreau and Oleta Adams in a very lush and sexy version of Waters of March.

The written lyrics of Waters of March – Portugeuse and English

All images ©2012 Lynn Emberg Purse, All Rights Reserved

Breathe Out, Breathe In

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“Breath” 1. the air inhaled and exhaled in respiration; 2. life; vitality 3. time to breathe; pause or respite Adapted from dictionary.reference.com

Spring break from school began today, and true to form, winter came roaring back just in time to celebrate the moment. No matter. The coming week will be filled with recording my compositions, especially the vocal tracks, as I finally prepare to release my solo album of compositions “House of Sound.” I hope to unveil the first completed song next week; for now, I am celebrating the completion of a four part song cycle – “The Four Elements.”

I have mentioned this work before when I blogged about my struggle with Fire and Light. This week marked the completion of the last piece “Breath.” This was another difficult piece to embrace, to find my way through. In The Four Elements, each of the elements – earth, air, water, fire – has been translated to a particular instance of that element. Earth became “Clay”, water became “Rain”, and fire became “Light”. Although I knew that I wanted air to become “Breath” I could not find the in, the twist, the kernel of meaning that would allow the song to realize itself.

After eight pages of researched notes, I was drowning in information but had found no inspiration. Finally, I stood back and asked myself Continue reading →

Planting a Seed

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Aside from the garden of Eden, man’s great temptation took place when he first perceived his seed catalog. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

image of seed catalogsIt is the time of year when seed catalogs take on a life of their own, slithering off the coffee table, piling near a favorite chair, and populating the bedside. Earmarked and rife with notes, circled photos, and exclamatory punctuation, the catalogs bear witness to the pent up longing for color and new life that is part of every gardener’s spring fever. Some of the seeds are already here, along with a supply of pots, flats, and bagged soil; others are still to be ordered. Every year, as I begin the late winter planting, I consider the profound act of planting a seed.

image of larkspur seeds in handAlthough we may live in a high tech world estranged from our agricultural beginnings, our language continues to allude to the power of a tiny seed to start life, to change the world. Seeds of change, seeds of destruction, ideas that germinate, going to seed – the language of seeds is endless. While Continue reading →

Sleep

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To sleep, perchance to dream . . .  William Shakespeare

February is like the 4 A.M. of the calendar year. I wake up, eager to start the day, but realize the world is still dark and the garden is still sleeping. So, I roll over, snuggle deeper under the covers, and go back to sleep, perchance to dream, of the gardening year to come.

There are a lot of wildly differing viewpoints on sleep, perhaps depending on whether you seek it, fear it, or cannot find it. As a gardener and nature lover, I find Continue reading →