The word "soft" takes up a lot of space in the dictionary. It's a broad-shouldered, good-natured word, and so naturally ends up doing a lot of extra work. A quick glance down the list of definitions shows that most of the work is pleasant, at any rate, even relaxing. Soft can mean: pleasing, agreeable; bringing ease, comfort, or quiet; mellow, subdued, gentle, smooth, delicate; balmy, mild or clement; not violent; demanding little work or effort; leisurely, curved, unassuming, low-key; marked by kindness or tenderness... Such lovely ideas, all redolent of ease, and all wrapped up in that one word, "soft."
 |
| 'Lady Jane' tulips and grape hyacinths |
One of the things I love most about spring is that it gives us back the gift of shade. All winter the east-facing patio and garden are sunny and comfortable in the morning but off-limits for casual enjoyment after noon. In the morning, the sun is happy to tell tall tales and let you pretend that the temperature is much warmer than it actually is. Then it crosses the roofline and leaves you with shade, which always tells the cold, unvarnished truth. Shade sends you inside to put on another sweater and behave yourself.
In spring the shade has kinder truths to tell. Unseasonably warm weather this week has made the patio a comfortable place to sit again in the afternoons, to work the crossword puzzle, draft a blog post, watch the goldfinches. But the biggest enjoyment has been the soft light of shade—not the glow of winter sun or the blare of summer, not the dark shadows against the north-facing wall, marked off from the sunlight by a straight, hard line, but the gentle, even light of New Mexico's ambient brightness.
In winter the sun is our haven; in summer we take refuge in shade. In spring both sun and shade are equally soft—they are mild, clement places to enjoy the soft colors, soft fragrances, soft temperatures.
No other refuge is necessary.
What a perfect word to describe spring....my spring has jumped back to windy, cold weather with hard freeze warnings...from soft to hard in a few days and who knows the consequences...love the tulips...mine are hiding waiting for the softness of spring to return.
ReplyDeleteOh, my, Donna--spring is definitely a verb. It's really only soft when it's behaving itself! Hope your pleasant weather returns just as suddenly and that your tulips come out of hiding soon.
DeleteBeautiful! I was just telling my family this weekend that I love porch sitting this time of year because the air feels so soft.
ReplyDeleteGinny, even autumn (which I love most) doesn't seem to have the softness of spring. A southern porch sounds just about perfect this time of year--enjoy it!
DeleteIt was probably a tired trope even back when Romeo spoke it,
ReplyDelete'But soft, what light through yonder window breaks....'
still manages to encompass all these senses of soft for me,
all at once.
Steve
Steve, it's a pity that those tropes get tired--they still speak eloquently when given the chance.
DeleteI always imagined New Mexico being blaze and glare more than soft and mild. Your post has given me a different sense of the state at this time of year.
ReplyDeleteJill, I think that New Mexico in sunshine is almost always blaze and glare, but somehow shade in spring has just the right amount of reflected glow. (And shade is almost by definition human-made, at least in this part of the state.) I love pastels at this time of year--the only time their softness really shows to advantage.
DeleteI do like shade. I had to dig out my mowing-panama hat today as the weather is more like July than March (and I forgot my sunblock again). The thought of a crossword and a cup of tea (with a sweater if need be) sounds altogether nicer than mowing in hot sun. The tulip and muscari combo is lovely. Dave
ReplyDeleteYou've had to make an early start with the Hayter this year, Dave! (It seems early from here, at any rate.) Crossword, shade, and tea are highly recommended alternatives, though they won't help keep the grass short. I've forgotten sunblock once or twice in the last few weeks and hope not to forget it again. I wasn't sure the muscari and tulips would bloom at the same time and was pleasantly surprised when they actually did. I'd stopped expecting cooperation from bulbs.
DeleteI agree with Dave, the combination is lovely. Is that the scene that you imagined when you were pouring over your catalogues last autumn ?
ReplyDeleteThank you, b-a-g. Imagined, yes, but planned on, no. It's been nice to have my growing cynicism about bulb combinations be thwarted!
Deletesoft weather, yes that does sound appealing. We've slid back to seeking out the shade. Your wall colour carefully chosen to bring out the magic of the tulips!
ReplyDeleteDiana, you must be out-and-out hungry for some soft weather by now. Soon... The wall color was decreed by fiat for the entire neighborhood (more or less), so I'm quite grateful that it plays so well with the tulips!
DeleteGorgeous tulips! It's so true that in winter we ache for the sun, and in summer we hide from it! In spring, for those few days of perfection, both sun and shade are in complete harmony.
ReplyDeleteHolley, it's so nice this time of year not to have to cope with weather, just to enjoy it!
DeleteYou write so beautifully. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteLaurie, thank you--it's nice to see you here on the "other side." Congratulations on your first (glorious!) tulip!
DeleteI do love your way with words. You think of things I have never stopped to consider. Thank you for that. It helps to widen out my tiny world.
ReplyDeleteIt's too cold here to be out. And rainy once again. Hoping for spring to come soon:) The flowers are lovely tho!
Blessings,
Elaine
Elaine, thank you--what a lovely thing to say! I don't know how we managed before the internet, to reach out to those new ideas that made our worlds a little bigger. My own world would be much, much smaller without my blogging friends. I hope you aren't in for another cold, rainy spring like you had last year!
DeleteStacy, How nice that you've been able to sit out and work in the afternoons; I look forward to getting out my patio furniture and doing the same in a few weeks. I do love the combination of form and color of your Muscari and tulips. -Jean
ReplyDeleteJean, those first few afternoons of sitting outside are always some of the most beautiful and memorable of the year. (And you can enjoy the "firsts" in two places!)
DeleteThat blue has a real zing to it Stacy and even better combined with these tulips.Some of the best plants grow in shade in our garden.
ReplyDeleteJanet, I'm really surprised at how well the blue shows in shade--it's such a deep color that I would have thought it would disappear.
Delete