MAM Day XXI the Vernal Equinox

Since I took the day off yesterday I’m gonna backtrack and celebrate the Vernal Equinox today.

The Earth is in perfect balance, day and night almost equal here.

It’s maple sugaring time in Vermont and time to take the bird feeders down so the bear who have awakened ravenous from their long slumber don’t get to them.

In Vermont it’s freeze and thaw, freeze and thaw, freeze and thaw. Skies are blue …when it’s not snowing. The water in the ponds’ inlets is rippling. Almost time for “ice out” when we bet on the exact day and time when there will we no more ice on the ponds.

It’s lambing season too.

I love to visit my neighbors’ farm and cuddle with those little lambs. I hope BaaBaa won’t be too jealous.

It’s the season of fertility and renewal symbolized by eggs:

Frogs eggs, birds’ eggs, moth eggs and wasp eggs on a caterpillar. They haven’t quite arrived here yet, but they will be here in no time.

A colored pencil drawing I made of a nest of eggs based on a line from a Mary Oliver poem:

“This morning, in the fresh field, I came upon a hidden nest, It held four warm speckled eggs…”

The Vernal Equinox is celebrated in many traditions and cultures. There is an ancient pagan holiday called Ostara, a Persian holiday called Nowruz, a Japanese National holiday called Shunbun no Hi which is related to the Buddhist celebration called Higan…and of course there is Easter and Passover to celebrate Spring if not exactly the equinox.

So there you have it. Spring is officially here even though it’s still on its way in terms of the Vermont weather… but coming soon.

Enjoy!

MAM Day XX

Happy Snowy Vernal Equinox!

Today is my MAM day off so just a short greeting.

Let the candles burn bright to mark the separation of Shabbat from the rest of the week and let the Vernal Equinox mark the changing of Winter into Spring (even if we are in the midst of a Spring snow storm).
Shabbat Shalom everyone. Peace be with you. Have a good rest.
and a good night💤💤

MAM Day XIX Gardens

The prompt for today was gardens so I’ll take you on a tour of gardens in Japan, Prague, Costa Rica, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Central Park, and even in Adamant.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=oXOdMgIb95E&si=xggY4F0A-iY9cX0h

That’s all for now. Hope you had a pleasant stroll.

MAM Day XVIII Wild Life

The prompt for today was “wild” but as it happens 18 is a special number in Hebrew –

Transliterated as “chai”, translated it means “life”.

So here are some depictions of wild life (wildlife):

Top left Japanese painting of a tiger photographed in the Asia Society Museum in New York; top right Leopard wall mural photographed in Costa Rica; bottom left Audubon painting of parrots photographed in the NY Public Library; bottom right Japanese painting of fish and other sea creatures from the Asia Society Museum

And here is a collection of my own colored pencil drawings of wildlife here in Adamant and environs:

I hope my dreams will be more tame than wild 🐑🐑🐑🥱💤 and yours too.

MAM Day XVII

The prompt for today was shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day but I like the idea of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Which one do you think has a pot of gold at it’s end?

One of my favorite childhood songs.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

MAM Day XIV Waves

The prompt for today’s MAM post was spangles but I liked the idea of waves for today. Waves have sparkles if not spangles.

I love Vermont but I miss the ocean.

Enjoy.

MAM Day XV Daffodils etc.

The prompt for today is “daffodils”

Okay, lots of photos of daffodils…pretty but…

I like the species name “jonquil”. It includes flowers that are a variety of yellows and whites, apricots and creams..

All jonquils are daffodils (genus Narcissus), but not all daffodils are jonquils. So there. I like the way the name jonquil rolls off the tongue better than daffodil anyway.

Here are some daffodils being restrained, or perhaps we are being restrained from getting too close to them?

Well now here’s a strange use of a daffodil…

What’s all this about? Remember Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”? Ariel when they are about to be freed sings this song:

“Where the bee sucks, there suck I:

In a cowslip’s bell I lie;

There I couch when owls do cry.

On the bat’s back I do fly…”

I love the character of Ariel, so here am I, like Ariel in a cowslip’s bell I lie…Only I cheated – by “in a cowslip’s bell” Shakespeare was referring to a primrose where Britons at the time thought faeries slept and not in daffodils but I didn’t have any photos of primroses so I thought a daffodil would do just as well…maybe even better, for the purposes of my collage.