Tulipalooza

Yesterday, Sydney and I ventured north to Woodburn to spend a couple hours at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. For the second year in a row, we met Sarah and Clover there. Last year, the girls were barely walking and had trouble maneuvering through the sawdust. This year, they were chasing each other (or rather Sydney was chasing Clover) through the tulip aisles, across the sawdust, around the windmill, beside the tractor, and into the flower boxes...when they weren't stomping through the mud-luscious world. Clover was in good form finding every possible mud puddle, and in the end even finding an ankle-high lake to slosh through. It was most certainly (as E. E. Cummings wrote) a puddle-wonderful morning.

Sydney wasn't quite as adventurous having chosen a dress to wear for the occasion, although she did manage to sit in one mud puddle. I did at least make her wear her boots, and two sweaters, but I couldn't dissuade her from her new dress once she heard me mention "flowers," as in, "Today we're going to go see some flowers." She has quite a developed sense of what she wants to wear.

Since I had forgotten my camera at home, I had to rely on Sarah for pictures, which is quite a nice position to be in since she's such a good photographer. Almost seventy-photos later, we called it a day. On the drive home, Sydney talked and talked about her time with "Coco" and pretended to smell imaginary flowers. Sometimes I can hardly contain myself, she is so adorable.

There is something remarkable about spending a few moments in a huge tulip field, the wind whipping our hair around our faces, two little cousins holding hands, the sound of boots splashing, and tiny voices calling for "hats!" It is spring at its finest I'd say.

Sarah wrote a lovely post, complete with a poem about mud, with more pictures.

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And while I wax poetic about springtime, breathing in the faint smell of tulip pollen, Jason is sneezing away from his allergies. This is earlier in the year than he usually gets them, and he is quite miserable about it. Sneezing, runny nose, scratchy eyes are the telltale signs that spring has arrived for him. Unfortunately, our insurance company doesn't give out his preferred allergy drug of choice (Allegra), so he's making do with some other med they prescribed him. The dosage is too low to really be helpful, and it might be that we'll just have to pay cash for the good stuff (he refuses to do the shots or the nasal sprays having read some sort of research on how you eventually become immune to them). After nine years, I have learned to be somewhat sympathetic, although when it comes to sleeping between his allergy-induced snoring and Sydney's cold-induced snoring, I seem to be the one who's getting the least amount of sleep.

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In non-related and very late-breaking news, I thought I should offer a late congratulations to Nathanael who won my NCAA blogball tournament bracket. Some little birdie told him to pick George Mason to go deep (in the form of National Review's article on their law school). Well done, my former student. An Amazon gift certificate is your well-deserved prize. Thanks to the rest of you for playing! Join in the fun next year for another shot.

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"Never forget that the subject is as important as your feeling; the mud puddle itself is as important as your pleasure in looking at it or splashing through it. Never let the mud puddle get lost in the poetry--because, in many ways, the mud puddle is the poetry." --Valerie Worth

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Happy Birthday to my brother Tyler. Only one more year until we are the same age (because I don't think I'm aging past 30). I'm proud of you, little big brother. You're amazing, and talented, and super duper cool.

Comments

[Laura]

What beautiful day for you! We were going to go tomorrow, but it's looking too soggy. And it is so very adorable that Sydney looks just like you did from the back! All those curls!

[Marilyn]

Oooh, the tulips! My favorite flower! I can remember seeing the fields as we'd zip by on the freeway...always meant to go frolic in them...never did. So fun to read about your day there. And what a FABULOUS photo of the two of you!!

[violetismycolor]

Oh how I love going to the tulip fields...maybe an ancestral thing but probably just a flower-loving thing...but NOT on the weekend. Last weekend, I went to Woodburn to visit my parents because an aunt was in town and the LINEUP on the freewary...OMG! It took me 20 minutes to get off the offramp. Chaos! And I knew why...all those flower-loving sightseers!

[Nancy]

Great pictures. I think my allergies would be going nuts with all the tulips around -- good thing I can admire them through your photos. ;-)

Congrats to Nathaniel on winning the basketball tourney. I did not have a successful year in either of my fantasy leagues. Only consolation is that I'm winning fantasy hockey, which ends Monday.

[ccap]

I've come to the conclusion that you could post a photo of Sydney every day and it would make me smile every single time. Thanks!

[Goslyn]

You have tulip fields? I have SO got to move to the west coast. How awesome. It looks like it was quite the day.

Yay for tulips and beautiful little girls!

Happy Easter!

(Oh, and tag, you're it!)

[Mel]

Gorgeous pictures! Next year, I'm definitely going to make it to the daffodil and tulip fields to take photos.

(Thanks for stopping by my blog.) I've add you to my bloglines account and look forward to reading your blog!

[Jess]

These pictures are so adorable. It's awesome that Sydney has a cousin so close to her in age. What a wonderful yearly excursion! It seems like the absolute perfect way to welcome Spring. I was at my parents' over the weekend and brought some of my mom's tulips and daffodils home with me. Even though it's raining here in DC today, they Spring-ify my apartment nicely.

[kelly rae]

i love finding other oregonians. i love that tulip field. it's like being in a sea of color. so gorgeous! i found you via my friend Liz. great blog!