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2.18.2013

Dancing with the Daffodils

 to me, spring is heralded by daffodils blooming
so i can't think of a better way to kick off the spring season here on HOMEWARDfound

 daffodils have always been my favorite flower...

it all started when i first saw the Disney cartoon version of Alice in Wonderland as a child:
the happy goofy silly 'daffy-o-dills' just made me smile!
 and every spring since, the nodding, bouncing, golden heads of narcissus
have been my spring flower of choice.
[image source]

when we moved from Southern California up to Seattle years ago,
we drove up to the Skagit Valley, North of Seattle, in March. 
as we crossed the river and drove in to the farmland,
 i saw a sight that quite literally took my breath away:
Fields of Golden Daffodils
 i was completely surrounded by
hundreds of acres filled with nodding, swaying, happy daffodil blooms!
i had never seen anything like that before... and i was in my own little heaven.
in april, those same fields are home to hundreds of acres of tulips, for the world-famous Tulip Festival.

but to me, the daffodils are the stars...

I wandered lonely as as a cloud
    That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
    A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
    And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
    Along the margin of the bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
    Outdid the sparkling waves in glee: --
A poet could not but be gay
    In such a jocund company!
I gazed, and gazed, but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie
    In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
    Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

 ~ William Wordsworth


whether you get them at a farmstand, a garden center, the grocer, or your own yard,
a bunch of daffodils is a simple and inexpensive way to bring spring home
even before spring gets here! 

 

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful images and don't you LOVE Wordsworth? I bit my teeth on his poetry. xo Diana

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love this! Daffodils always remind me of Spring.

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  3. Our daffodils should be up soon - yay, they are so beautiful!

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