Happy Easter

Nothing says "spring" for me as loud and clear and cheerful as Narcissus - daffodil flower.

Every time I see that happy, bright yellow bloom, the memories of my grandmother's backyard take me to another space and time, to the days of my carefree childhood in idyllic Slovenia.

There I spent many hours observing all kinds of beautiful wildflowers or blooms in my granny's garden, sunbathing on the roof of one of the farm buildings or climbing the plum tree, munching on fresh fruit and admiring the nature around.

In spring, when countless of little daffodil islands were dominating the backyard scenery, my grandfather would carefully mow the grass around daffodils, to make sure their beauty stayed intact and they come back again next year, with even more blooms and beauty than the year before.



Photo courtesy of Mundilfari*

I'm not much into poetry but in my high school, when I was taking "Old British and American Literature" as an elective class, there was this one poem that I really
enjoyed - and through which I've learned this English word (the daffodil) for the first time:

"Daffodils" (1804)
By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring everyone, 

look for things that make you happy, 

no matter if that's a bloom, 

a smile of someone dear to you 

or heavily loaded dinner table... 

May your heart be filled with love,

today and always!

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