Text & Pics by Barb Jenks Triffon
Beauty & Nature by Jeffrey Woods
As Jeffrey Woods closes in on me during this season of springtime growth, so do some very colorful childhood memories.
Beauty & Nature by Jeffrey Woods
As Jeffrey Woods closes in on me during this season of springtime growth, so do some very colorful childhood memories.
While emerging leaves and sprouting plants narrow woodland trails and obscure the world at large, I find my thoughts drifting back to a little girl exploring the winding paths of her grandmother’s garden.
It’s funny how certain sights, sounds and smells awaken memories of the very things that created the memories in the first place.
For me, springtime always brings me back to my grandmother’s Victorian-style garden. Within that lush mysterious world of towering ferns, flowering vines, beautiful blooms, moss-covered cobblestones and overwhelming fragrances, I learned to love nature and the many enchanted worlds within it.
As a child, I often visited this garden of hidden places and high adventure, but always under the strictest orders to "Never" step off the path. And that, of course, created a huge dilemma.
The mere mention of “forbidden” found me inventing ways to get off the manicured walkway in search of other points of interest.
It’s funny how certain sights, sounds and smells awaken memories of the very things that created the memories in the first place.
For me, springtime always brings me back to my grandmother’s Victorian-style garden. Within that lush mysterious world of towering ferns, flowering vines, beautiful blooms, moss-covered cobblestones and overwhelming fragrances, I learned to love nature and the many enchanted worlds within it.
As a child, I often visited this garden of hidden places and high adventure, but always under the strictest orders to "Never" step off the path. And that, of course, created a huge dilemma.
The mere mention of “forbidden” found me inventing ways to get off the manicured walkway in search of other points of interest.
Though youthfully naive, I was still aware of my grandmother’s limitations and used them to my advantage. (Most kids know lots more stuff than adults think they know, which is okay because it helps even out the balance of power. )
Confined to a wheelchair, grandma had a somewhat limited view from the big bay window where she perched herself to watch for garden interlopers. I knew just when to disappear and how much time to spend off path before she busted me for my foolhardy shenanigans.
But it was those little, off-trail adventures that introduced me to some of nature's most amazing hidden worlds as seen within a single raindrop; a swath of green, cool moss; a tightly curled fern; a dragonfly's wing and the ever-changing dandelion.
Confined to a wheelchair, grandma had a somewhat limited view from the big bay window where she perched herself to watch for garden interlopers. I knew just when to disappear and how much time to spend off path before she busted me for my foolhardy shenanigans.
But it was those little, off-trail adventures that introduced me to some of nature's most amazing hidden worlds as seen within a single raindrop; a swath of green, cool moss; a tightly curled fern; a dragonfly's wing and the ever-changing dandelion.
And though it may sound like I was a fearless little warrior - I wasn’t in the least bit.
With her hair tightly braided and wrapped around her head in multiple circles, grandma was the picture of no nonsense. She was always able to scare the love-of-life and fear-of-death out of me with just a tilt of her head. (And, that cumbersome, old wheelchair of hers didn’t help the overall presentation.)
Oddly enough, though, I must have been motivated more by curiosity than fear, because I kept exploring those secret "keep-out-and-off" areas.
So that’s the way it was during the springs of my early childhood. Time was spent exploring the unknown, following slug slime, grabbing earth worms, uncovering creepy-crawlies, stroking velvety moss, watching birds feed their young, getting deeply lost in so many flowers faces and trying to stay out of grandma's field of vision.
With her hair tightly braided and wrapped around her head in multiple circles, grandma was the picture of no nonsense. She was always able to scare the love-of-life and fear-of-death out of me with just a tilt of her head. (And, that cumbersome, old wheelchair of hers didn’t help the overall presentation.)
Oddly enough, though, I must have been motivated more by curiosity than fear, because I kept exploring those secret "keep-out-and-off" areas.
So that’s the way it was during the springs of my early childhood. Time was spent exploring the unknown, following slug slime, grabbing earth worms, uncovering creepy-crawlies, stroking velvety moss, watching birds feed their young, getting deeply lost in so many flowers faces and trying to stay out of grandma's field of vision.
And as a result of those sometimes scary, but always dreamy days - the first notice of busy birds, buzzing bees and swelling lilacs every spring finds me not as the weather-worn, aging adult I am, but as the lively, little girl with a mighty big smile and an even bigger adventure in the making.
Springtime is the Best Time to Enjoy the Wildflower Side of Jeffrey Woods.
"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. "
~ Aristotle
~ Aristotle
"Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better. "
~ Albert Einstein
~ Albert Einstein