spring flowers.

April 22, 2010
daffodil1daffodil4
i took these shots a few weeks ago, and meant to write about them then, but i didn’t. so here i go now, one last addition to abby’s unofficial flower week.
 
before i begin: i know this little blog can get awfully flowery sometimes. but i thought you should know, at the very least, that i come by it honestly. here, a very short story:
 
in the springtime, the periphery of the yard at my parents’ house is filled with daffodils of every imaginable shape and size, but it wasn’t always this way. when i was in elementary school, the property across the street from our family’s house was sold to developers. the once-farm hadn’t been working for half a century or more, but every spring, in the shade of its young trees, thousands of daffodils would bloom.
 
horrified at the prospect of losing the flowers to back-hoes, my mom rounded up her four daughters one early spring morning and marched us across the street, shovels in hand, to save the daffodils. some of us grumbled, some were too much convinced of the romance of it all to utter a complaint, and we’d all been too much indoctrinated with stories of miss rumphius to imagine it any other way.
 
together, we wheeled load after load of young shoots across the street and into our yard. an entire saturday devoted to saving the bulbs. that first spring, there were no flowers, but the next year, our yard was filled with buttery blooms. and it has been each spring since.
 
the end.

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23 Comments

  • Reply Linda Zimmerman April 23, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    Miss Rumphius is such an inspiration! I just passed the house 10 minutes ago and marveled at the color!!!!!

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  • Reply Dee (a.k.a. joleystar) April 23, 2010 at 5:46 pm

    what an incredibly sweet story! 🙂

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  • Reply Amy@OldSweetSong April 23, 2010 at 6:30 pm

    you have a way with words and stories. and it makes me smile.

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  • Reply doebmom April 23, 2010 at 7:46 pm

    You are lovely, really. One of the most comforting parts of returning home from Fairfield this week was the sight of hundreds of sunny bobbing faces dancing in the breeze. I picked 108 in honor of Aunt Ruth's birthday and put them in every corner of the house, where they are brightening each room, even as they turn delicate as tissue paper. The poet said it well:

    A house with daffodils in it
    is a house lit up,
    whether or no the sun be shining
    outside–
    Daffodils in a green bowl–
    and let it snow if it will…
    A. A. Milne

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  • Reply D&D April 23, 2010 at 7:47 pm

    your mama doe is one amazing lady.

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  • Reply Jane Flanagan April 23, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    I love this story so much!

    Have an amazing weekend!

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  • Reply Emily April 23, 2010 at 8:54 pm

    As a child raised in the school of Miss Rumphius as well as a gardening mother, I wholly relate to this story! Glorious!

    And there can never be too many flowers…

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  • Reply the goodie life April 24, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    aw, this is lovely erin! what a great story! xo kate

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  • Reply Vintage Simple April 24, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    Oh, I loved this story..! And then your mom's comment…. Just beautiful – all of it. Thank you.

    xoox,
    -maria

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  • Reply vanessa joie April 25, 2010 at 4:38 am

    Beautifully said – it's a great story.

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  • Reply Oliag April 25, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    …I'm in awe of your mom:)

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  • Reply Michelle April 26, 2010 at 5:06 am

    What a precious story! Your mom is a hero. 🙂 And so are you girls for being her accomplices.

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  • Reply Alli Reilly April 27, 2010 at 12:41 am

    How many times have I enjoyed those flowers without knowing their beautiful story?

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  • Reply Associate Girl April 27, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    I love this story. It made my day.

    1
  • Reply Julia April 28, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    What an amazing memory to have 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!

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  • Reply The Lil Bee May 3, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    I absolutely love this story, Erin. Your mom is so sweet to think of such a thing!

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  • Reply Stacey May 3, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    I love the story that went with the photos.

    My mom adores daffodils, her father brought bulbs from Pennsylvania for her to plant in her California garden, now he has passed, but every spring Grampa's daffodils bloom.

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  • Reply counting dandelions May 4, 2010 at 5:03 pm

    if i had a rule book, rule # 73 would be: never apologize for flowers, flowery-ness, thoughts of flowers. what a lovely post. thank you.

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  • Reply red | hongyi May 4, 2010 at 8:19 pm

    beautiful

    i see a lot of these flowers around me now too. they make me smile 🙂

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  • Reply wishful nals May 4, 2010 at 8:35 pm

    i loooove daffodils! beautiful post 🙂

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  • Reply blue moss May 5, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    Love the image of all of you saving the daffodils. 🙂

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  • Reply sinnlighet May 9, 2010 at 7:24 am

    Hi,
    I just want to tell you that I like your blog, it's incredibly inspiring.
    I would also like to leave a footprint after me & Sweden, and will welcome you to my blog.

    Agneta

    1
  • Reply Bonbon Oiseau May 10, 2010 at 4:39 pm

    huzzaH! what a hopeful story…just lovely as are your pictures.
    sorry it's been so long since my last visit…i've missed you!

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