Some smells have color

I'm starting seeds in the basement this week end. It's time. I almost jumped the gun and started the babies earlier this month. But I'm not waiting anymore. My heart needs to see the little guys.

I started thinking about seedlings again yesterday afternoon. I was sewing up a simple skirt of small, red and blue, flowered cotton for my sweet daughter. And since I had been working steadily over the skirt for more than an hour, I thought I'd wander outside to give my sore back a break. I stepped out on onto the south porch and was struck with wonder. The world smelled....... green. (Some smells have color, you know.) I could close my eyes and imagine it had just rained because of that glorious aroma. The Earth smelled wet and growing and green.

When I opened my eyes I found that the source of my wonderful smell was a late winter thunderhead making it's way across the southern end of our valley.











I stood there for about 10 minutes just watching.


And smelling.


And breathing the sweet scent of spring yet to come.

But the moment was fleeting because soon a cold wind blew the beautiful thunderheads away. And about an hour later......it snowed. I guess it is still February, after all. But the whiff of green reminded me that spring will come. It always does. We just have to wait a little longer. So I tucked the great, green scent into my heart where it will keep with images of yellow, tasseled, corn stalks swaying in the breeze and curling pumpkins hiding their orange treasures under big, sticky leaves and fuzzy, baby chicks snuggled safely into their mother's downy feathers. It's all there waiting. It's just not time.

So I think I'll start some seeds in the basement this week end. Because I need them now. Because I'll need them when spring really comes to stay.