“Awake, thou wintry earth
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers,
laugh forth Your ancient gladness!” ~ Thomas Blackburn
“O Love-star of the unbeloved March,
When cold and shrill,
Forth flows beneath a low, dim-lighted arch
The wind that beats sharp crag and barren hill,
And keeps unfilmed the lately torpid rill!” ~ Sir Aubrey de Vere Quotes, Ode to the Daffodil
“Friendship is a shiny thing, a steady beam of light
A lantern on a lonely street, a song far in the night
A smile, a touch of loving hand,
a quiet moment on a hill
And, oh, what a happy little child bringing home a daffodil.” ~ Unknown
“She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
“Winter is dead.” ~ A.A. Milne
Like many this year, the street views outside my window have been winter barren in the most extreme sense of the word. The branches of my beautiful trees faced me everyday, some days covered with ice, some with snow, days filled with grey. And just when I thought they’d faced the worst, there came more. Storm after storm after storm.
My trees wear beauty in any season, any weather. But this winter, one of the worst ever, tested them. I’d peek out the window everyday and my stately trees stood staring, branches outstretched, as if to say, “When is enough? How long? This seems never-ending.” And me, warm inside, unable to soothe, joined their song of longing. It seemed to linger forever. They bore the stark beauty of winter proud. And we waited as one. Drawn in, still, preparing for the day of green. And then the day came.
Cold, frozen ground gave way to green, gave way to buds, gave way to these yellow lovelies pushing through, popping up out of the ground.
Yes, the days remained cold and windy and gray, but one day the sun shone bright. And I could no longer contain myself. Leaving a sink full of dishes, the rays irresistible, I ran out and joined all of them. I threw a blanket on that frigid ground and got under them, over them, and around them in a contortion of child’s play, smiling and laughing among a sea of yellow dancing. And hmmm … was that birdsong I hear? Ahhh … just a little more time, my friends, and we’ll be dancing with the sun on our back and spring in our step!
“Daffodils that come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty … ” ~ William Shakespeare
This is but one view of life on my street. On the last post I promised you daffodils. As you can see, I kept that promise! I hope you enjoy. 🙂
Happy Spring! Alexandria
{Photos taken with Nikon D60 with Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm lens, in RAW mode. If you want any metadata you’ll have to contact me. Thought if you clicked on the photos you it might be there, but not so. I recently took another photography class and this is the first roll-out of photos using full manual mode and applying some of the new techniques. As per usual, there is very minimal, if any, post-processing–nary a crop except the first one. Most are completely untouched. What do you think?}
Other street views I enjoyed:
My Cyber House Rules
Beyond the Brush
Thoughts and Entanglements
Blogagaini
Depth of Feelings
Life in the Foothills
Find Later Photography
SimplySage 
Nguyên-Kan
/ March 29, 2014Thank you for enjoying my photos of street life. Yours are awesome!
SimplySage
/ March 29, 2014Thank you. So enjoyed yours!
sustainabilitea
/ March 29, 2014These are in the streets of bugs, insects, etc. 🙂 Lovely shots. I’m looking forward to the arrival of daffodils here, but it will be some time yet.
janet
Lynne Ayers
/ March 29, 2014Beautiful shots – how I long to see a daffodil again – we are not yet through this long cold winter.
SimplySage
/ March 29, 2014Thank you so much. Hang in there. Hope mine bring smiles til yours come!
Lynne Ayers
/ March 29, 2014🙂
basiga
/ March 29, 2014Daffodils are one of my favorites! I love your play of light and shadow. Great series! And, thanks for stopping by blogagaini.com
SimplySage
/ March 29, 2014Thanks to you as well for your kind remarks. Glad you enjoyed the daffodils. As you can see, they are one of mine, too!
quarksire
/ March 29, 2014wow this set of shotz is simply wunderful 🙂
SimplySage
/ March 29, 2014Thank you. 🙂
Amy
/ March 29, 2014Love the dances with daffodils! Beautiful way to interpret the theme.
SimplySage
/ March 29, 2014Thank you, Amy. Different that urban but street life, nonetheless. 🙂
babso2you
/ March 30, 2014Thank you so much for including me in your list of street views that you liked! 🙂 ^..^ B
babso2you
/ March 30, 2014And forgot to mention – absolutely beautiful photos!
SimplySage
/ March 30, 2014Thank you so much!
SimplySage
/ March 30, 2014You’re welcome. I only showcase what I think is the best. 😉
babso2you
/ March 30, 2014Thank you again!
Tina Schell
/ March 31, 2014Now THIS is a creative way to address street life Alexandria! So very springy – thank goodness it’s here at last!!
SimplySage
/ March 31, 2014Street life is the country is fairly quiet but the land is very busy! 🙂 Yes, so thankful for spring!
Island Traveler
/ April 6, 2014Watching them dance is like watching the Sun dance plus I get to feel its warmth and joy up close. Truly beautiful! Happy Spring Sunday!
Chasing Butterflies: Sunshine and freedom
/ April 7, 2014What a powerful combination of words and photos. Loved this post, fantastic photos. The lighting in them is fantastic! Hope you have a great week! Giana.
SimplySage
/ April 7, 2014Thank you. I absolutely love daffodils. Watching them endure such harsh conditions made me like them even more. They were more beautiful this year than any other. The lighting? Simple. Afternoon sun from the west, around 3pm, full manual settings with narrow depth of field. Fun stuff! Thank you for your comments. Much appreciated! 🙂
dzenden
/ April 18, 2014Fantastic flowers.
Greetings 🙂
Julia
/ April 18, 2014A gorgeous tribute to my favorite flowers – and that’s saying something since I love ALL the flowers — what joy those yellow blooms bring me each year! Thanks for putting a smile on my face.
SimplySage
/ April 21, 2014Your welcome! They put a smile on my face, too, that’s for sure. Thank you for the visit and comments. 🙂