“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain,” T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land.
April can be one of the cruelest months, but not here and not this year and not this spring. It can be rainy and muddy with a blizzard or two thrown in. But not this year.
This year, April featured five glorious days of sunny skies with temps in the 80s which melted the last of the snow in our yards and dried out many of our roads enough to avert the worst of mud season.
The sunny skies made for amazing spring skiing and amazing weather for sitting on the deck, taking walks and breaking out the bikes.
That very same weather also led to Emily von Trapp, of Von Trapp Flowers, Waitsfield, finding herself with way too many flats of forced tulips (planted in succession last fall to bloom and be sold this winter and spring) coming into bloom far earlier than planned and far faster than she and her staff could cut and distribute them for sale.
Her solution? Make lemonade out of the lemons and take over 1500 tulips (and some daffodils) in 24 crates to the steps of the Joslin Memorial Library on Bridge Street in Waitsfield and stage a mini-tulip festival for everyone to enjoy.
That she chose to share these blooms with us is an incredible gesture of generosity and community spirit and the steps of one of our most significant historic buildings is an amazing place for her mini-tulip fest!
Since the display has gone up, pictures of the display and people standing, sitting and posing among the blooms are all over social media and being texted far and wide.
It’s impossible to know just how much we needed this remarkable gift until we got it. This much beauty in one place is spectacular.
Emily wins April this year.
