Around the Town: Searching for the first wild violet

Note: I meant to send you breaking news last week–I had just discovered the wild violets were out. But now it is old news, because last week when I thought I hit SEND I must have hit SAVE DRAFT. At least that is where I found my column, but by then I was too late. Sorry about that. — Loretta

By Loretta Humble/Around the Town

I was sitting here trying to think of something new to tell you. Then it hit me that maybe I should report on the progress of spring at the farm. I knew it was getting close because last week I put on a dress and wore it all day.

Last summer I told you everybody, even men, should be wearing comfortable dresses. Nothing else is as comfortable or practical as a dress in the summer. Then winter came, and I dug out baggy pants and sweaters, and forgot what a dress was. But last week I put one on and it felt great. That was my first clue that spring was nearly here. And I knew exactly where to look to find out for sure.

I put my laptop down and headed out the back door of my little house which sits right on the edge of the woods. There is a winding path that leads you under arches made of honeysuckle vines and fallen branches down to a little gully with moss on its banks. Like I have done for the last 75 years, on these very acres, I was looking for the first wild violet; I found it and just a few others. That was yesterday. Today I thought I’d see if I could take a picture of one to show you. And right now I want to stop right here and thank you for putting up with me writing this column. I just had the most wonderful experience getting you that picture! You see, I still go looking every year, but now I mostly stay on the trails. Today I wanted to get you a really nice picture, so I climbed over a log or two, dodged some thorny bushes, and got my feet a little muddy striking out through the woods. The further I went, the better they looked, and the thicker they grew. Then I came to a clearing that was just covered with them. When I was a little kid, I liked to think these kind of things were magic, that maybe the fairies did it for reasons of their own. That is how it felt to me today.

So as far as I am concerned, spring is here. The wren who has built her nest over our door in the Christmas swag we forgot to take down agrees. Daffodils and flowering quince say so too. I cannot argue with that much evidence.

This happy reliving of childhood pleasures is in no way deterring me from my obsessive drive to sell every piece of unnecessary and totally surplus stuff of my own and that of the Humble Family in order to send two deserving granddaughters to Ireland. This weekend I sat in my recliner and posted pictures of stuff in my house I can do without on Facebook. I started on the front porch, then moved to the back. Just chatting with friends, asking them what they thought things were worth, I sold several things. It was fun. There is no way I would have sold these things just for myself. I would have given them away or stored them. But give me a good cause, and I having a blast. I’m thinking about getting somebody to make us one of those thermometers, that shows how much we’ve raised and how far we have to go. I think maybe we’d better raise a little more first. Right now it might scare us.