An Irresistible Urge~

Image by: Arthur Rackham

"There is a herb, also, a fairy grass, called the Faud Shaughran, or the "stray sod,"and whoever treads the path it grows on is compelled by an irresistible impulse to travel on without stopping, all through the night, delirious and restless, over bog and mountain,through hedges and ditches, till wearied and bruised and cut, his garments torn, his hands bleeding, he finds himself in the morning twenty or thirty miles, perhaps, from his own home. And those who fall under this strange influence have all the time the sensation of flying and are utterly unable to pause or turn back or change their career."

~ Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde ( 1826-1896)

I don't know about you, but this is just how I feel when spring knocks on my door. When that glorious sun of ours lights the sky for longer each day and everything is alive with possibility. Instantly I find myself in constant motion without a desire for stopping. I am out there digging and planting, plotting and planning. And once I have begun, there is simply no turning back.

Today,I am out of bed after a bothersom little flu, ready to feel the sun on my face and the wind in my hair. Too many days indoors is a challenging thing for me.

To celebrate feeling better I put my peas in the earth, 2 inches down, 1 inch apart, just like mom taught me all those years ago. The robins chirped and the crows cawed their approval from the trees over head.

Image by: Arthur Rackham

Let the gardening begin I say. For gardening is a another kind of journey, an adventure of the best kind, full of surprises and challenges and wonder. It doesn't matter how well you think you've planned it, you never really know how it's all going to turn out, but isn't that the way all adventures are? And this never stops us from going, or in this case from getting our hands dirty. No gardener worries about dirt under fingernails, or torn trousers, or sore arms. In fact all these things are evidence of a job well done and when the first salad is on the table, well, there is no question, that this is a venture, of the most worthy kind.