National Poetry Month

By Shari Randall

Spring arrives slowly in New England, with frustrating fits and starts. There are usually a few unnaturally warm days in March when the optimistic splash through the melting snow in shorts and t-shirts. April’s saturated sunlight has me wondering if it’s time to put away the wool sweaters and bring out the cotton sweaters, pack away the grays and navy blues and bring out the pink and yellow. I've been fooled before.

Then Nature reminds us who’s in charge and it snows.

Still, the blue crocus push up through the dark earth and the forsythia isn’t far behind.

The forsythia always brings to mind these lines of poetry from

William Wordsworth’s “Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood”:

What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.

Does the change in season bring to mind any favorite poetry? April is National Poetry Month. Feel free to share a bit of your favorite poem in the comments. Happy spring!

Spring!

By Cathy Perkins

Happy first day of spring!

I've seen so many pictures of daffodils and other spring flowers in the past few days. Here in the Pacific Northwest, eh, not so much. But we're loving the sunshine.

I can feel the effect of vitamin D on my creativity and am working away on the next novel. 

How's your spring unfolding? 

An award-winning author of financial mysteries, Cathy Perkins writes twisting dark suspense and light amateur sleuth stories.  When not writing, she battles with the beavers over the pond height or heads out on another travel adventure. She lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd.  Visit her at http://cperkinswrites.com or on Facebook 

Sign up for her new release announcement newsletter in either place.

She's hard at work on sequel to The Body in the Beaver Pond, which was recently presented with the Claymore Award. 

Clicking Our Heels - Spring and Our Favorite Flowers

Clicking Our Heels – Spring and Our Favorite Flowers

Spring is here. With snow gone and flowers blooming, the Stiletto Gang wanted to share our favorite flowers with you.

Linda Rodriguez: Dogwood and redbud tree blossoms always mean spring to me because in northeast Oklahoma, they show up all over the wooded sides of the hills outside of Tahlequah and throughout the town itself as the heralds of spring.

Debra H. Goldstein: Yellow roses. They represent optimism, friendship, health, and joy and for me, pure happiness.

J.M. Phillippe: I am not great at knowing when things bloom as I grew up in Los Angeles. But Jasmine, particularly night blooming jasmine, has always been my favorite flower, probably followed by honeysuckle. Both grew in abundance in California, and often I would smell the jasmine before I could find it. I wish I could get it to grow in New York.

Shari Randall: Lilacs are my favorites. We had a huge old lilac in my family’s backyard, and my friends and I would climb inside to a tiny, hidden hollow space for our secret club meetings. The scent is lovely and brings back so many good memories.

Juliana Aragon Fatula: My favorite flower in spring: tulips, pink tulips.  My father picked them from the mansion he worked as the gardener and brought them home to me, my mom, and sisters all born in April. Poor man surrounded by all those fiery Aries.

Judy Penz Sheluk: Purple lilacs. Love the fragrance, but mostly, lilacs say “spring is here” after a long, Canadian winter.

Kay Kendall: I live in a part of the country (Houston, TX) where the flowering azalea bushes herald spring. Many homes are surrounded by mounds of these brightly colored plants, and I just love the effect. I also love the lush flower of a peony, but that grows on a bush as well.

T.K. Thorne: Always loved pansies. I like intense colors and pansies do this well without putting on airs.

Bethany Maines: Daffodil. It was the first flower I learned to draw and it still makes me happy every time I see one. For no good reason, they always feel like my flower.

A.B. Plum: I’m a rose lover and write about them in nearly every book I write. In The Dispensable Wife, AnneSophia plants over 200 bushes. Her husband thinks no Romanov wife should “play in the dirt.” Well, we’re all entitled to opinions.

Sparkle Abbey:

Mary Lee Woods:  My favorite flower is the jonquil as it’s an early flower and it means that spring is just around the corner. I love their bright yellow color and, because I’m not much of a gardener, I also love how easy they are to grow. They come back year after year.

Anita Carter: I love hydrangeas. I’m fascinated that their color is determined by the soils ph balance. My favorite color is blue. Every year when I see them, my husband has to talk me out of buying one, thus saving an innocent plant life!