Tuesday, March 24, 2009

coloring inside the lines

spring I
Here's the obligatory photo of crocuses blooming.*

Followed by the requisite ruminations about spring, beginnings, endings, the great circle of being, metaphor, meaninglessness, irony, synecdoche and anacoenosis.

A year ago, I was feeling lonely and sorry for myself and posting a recipe for rosemary bread. Where were you (metaphorically or otherwise) the last time it was spring?



*And I didn't steal this crocus-picture-thing idea from luna. I swear I didn't.

30 comments:

still life angie said...

i was happily trying to get pregnant, getting ready to tear out my kitchen, and rebuild it...today i am feeling sorry for myself and lonely. maybe i should make some rosemary bread and pour myself a glass of wine.

niobe said...

Angie: There's something especially bitter-tasting about happiness -- even our own past happiness -- viewed through the lens of present sorrow. If you were here, or I was there, I'd bake the bread and pour the wine for you...

Artblog said...

Giving birth to my son, tomorrow :) :) :)

Artblog said...

But I'll happily bake bread and drink wine with you both if I could :)

Anonymous said...

Ugh. I was in Prague, counting down the days to go home. (Study abroad with at least one friend, people. Otherwise, when you spend a semester in a city know for its beer and prostitution, you will be very lonely and depressed.)

Monica H said...

waiting.

k@lakly said...

I had just found out that the leprechaun was growing and was scared out of my mind....

Does anyone else see all the butterflies in the crocus or is it just me?

Cara said...

I had just been smacked over the head with the most-obvious idea to write the book I wish had been out there when Emma died.

So - I did,and such began the year of parenting my first daughter, something I never thought I would get to do.

Thanks for the memory. It was a very inspired time. Still is.

KH99 said...

A year ago I was excited that our GC F had her first real post-partum AF and beginning to envision cycling soon. We had also met with the attorney and started the contract process. Sadly, one of my kitties was very sick. She has since recovered, but it was a long month. I guess I was beginning to get excited because we were finally starting to DO something after months of forced inactivity.

painted maypole said...

that picture...wow!

so of course I had to go back and look at last year's March blog posts. I was loving New Orleans, tired of being sick, and feeling uninspired.

Amelie said...

What a beautiful picture.

A year ago, I was happier and not feeling stuck as I do now, doing the same for months with little progress... I'm glad that there is a summer to look forward to, this year.

Maggie said...

That picture is STUNNING. The detail is really amazing.

Last year I was trying to figure out what to do with my life, and to decide if giving up one career for a new one was worth it.

Today? I've got to have one of the best lives around...and I'm not sure how in the world I got so lucky.

Anonymous said...

That is a gorgeous photo, Niobe. All of your pictures are lovely, but this one is my new favourite.

Last year, I was celebrating my birthday, the one-year anniversary of the separation, and starting to date someone new.

This year, I am celebrating my birthday, the two-year anniversary of the separation, and starting to date someone new.

Apparently, this is now what I do in March.

Magpie said...

It's spring? How can it be that you have crocuses/croci blooming and I don't?

(Oh, maybe because the rotten varmints ate them all...)

A year ago, we were discussing putting my mother into hospice care. She's still there.

Meim said...

A year ago, I was waiting for my 3rd IUI, the one that would end in the most devestating experience I can remember; my first miscarriage.

This year, I am still reeling from miscarriage #2, and looking forward to IUI #7.

Thank you for the crocus picture. Flowers always make me feel better! :)

Katie said...

This time last year I was worrying about getting a job, now, I'm still worrying about getting a job, though less so, after all I know I can teach, I've been doing it for 6 months!
Last year I was single and not too bothered by it, this year I'm still single and starting to feel slightly less happy about it.

Overall though mentally I'm in a better place than I was last spring.

thordora said...

THis time last year I was on top of the world-thought my job and marriage were kick ass.

A year later, I know how blind I can be.

It snowed today. Sigh.

RBandRC said...

Last Spring I was just starting to get comfortable with the idea of being pregnant with Lemy. Granted, I was 5 months into the pregnancy, but it took me a while to get to a place of excitement rather than fear. This Spring is looking so much better though! :)

Christine said...

last spring i was actually able to form a sentence and write some essays, poetry, etc. this spring--nada. is it actually possible to have writer's block for months??

luna said...

ha. your pic is better. would it surprise you if I told you mine are dead already? probably not.

hmm. this time last year I was probably hiding under a rock cursing the taunt of spring, as I approached my final failure of my last cycle in treatment.

Anonymous said...

Last year I was writing a post about my due date being three years old today. This year, although I am not writing a post, it is four. Next year I suppose it will start school. Fortunately, at the moment I'm in Denmark, where the trees are just starting to bloom, although it's snowing lightly. A contrast that really works for me today. VB will be home from work in a few hours and we'll have a nice dinner and NOT talk about the age of our due date. That's about it. Thanks for asking!

Dalene said...

I was 3 days out from my due date this time last year, belly full and waiting. And then he died in labor 6 days after my due date. I noticed the crocuses blooming on the day we buried him and hated them for being a sign of rebirth and renewal.

Which Box said...

GORGEOUS. Wow.

A year ago. Just got the two pink lines, and freaking out. It's amazing how long and how short a year can be.

Smiling said...

i had to flick to my personal blog to remember... I made a plum cake, borrowed some frisbees to play around of disc golf, took some photos in case we needed happy couple photos for donor receiver profile or adoption profile, washed the car in the rain, took 2 small children for a drive so their parents could grocery shop in peace, and had the last days in my old little garage flat before I knew we were moving to the country.

it was fall here. I am thinking I was living day by day then given these are the things I posted about on my other blog.

Caro said...

I was beginning to believe that the fact my due date was less than a month away meant there was a good chance I was going to have a real live baby.
Finishing the nursery and buying the pram.

Anonymous said...

I think I was freaking out over my eyebrow waxing appointment being canceled. I was to leave for a wedding in California a few days later, and my eyebrows were out of control. But don't worry, everyone, I found another waxer in time and all was well, and my eyebrows looked fantastic.

I couldn't post this in the most recent blog, but how DOES one recalibrate spam filter in Wordpress? I'd hate to miss any of Niobe's pearls of wisdom....

Angela said...

This time last year my knees were having their own episode of Mystery Diagnosis, and I was miserably trying to accept the fact that my best friend had cut me out of his life. Never fall in love with your best friend, it is really a very bad idea.

Anonymous said...

Spring? It's spring where you are?

It's snowing here still.

(Oh, and a much belated congratulations on your son, Niobe! I do keep up with you!)

Anonymous said...

Last year at this time we were waiting for our son to come home from Korea. We had expected him home end of March or beginning of April. We did find out that it would be a couple of more months until he arrived. It was tough waiting those extra three months but I kept myself busy packing up my house b/c we were moving in the summer.

Sarah said...

I was just barely pregnant with my post-dead-baby, now living baby and completely scared out of my mind.