“You can cut all the flowers,
but you cannot keep spring from coming.”

– Pablo Neruda

~

Trees are in bud and bloom, fat robins hopping and days lengthening: Nature springs ahead with new life and we are energized. In honor of Spring we thought we’d share one of Joan’s poems from her book, The Art of Play…

Springing

My slinky springs downstairs.
I catch it mid motion
collapse the coils into a clump.
potential wound tight.

Think of spring, the season
springing leaves from tree tips.
Blossoms bound in buds, blooming free.

Me, as child, springing from my bed
eager to splash through puddles of melting snow,
eager to feel light as a feather,
as a feather on the robin’s red breast,
A harbinger of spring
like the crocus we would dig from snow-crusted fields
to plant in our garden, to plant in spring.

And “spring” as in sacred waters,
healing waters,
springing from earth
like spring itself
healing our snow-crusted souls
with its promise
of rebirth.

~

We also have new life: 3 cats! As some of you know, just before Christmas, we lost BK (Black Kitty – pictured above), who greeted guests in the lobby for years. 

Then, in January, Jeff and Sid (and Sid’s kids!) made a trip to the Humane Society to pick a new cat. However, as many of you know, trips to the shelter can be dangerous! Sid returned with a new dog and Jeff with not one but three cats. We have been acclimating them to the Inn with frequent lobby outings before freeing them to the outside. The weather is now warmer, they are familiar, and you’ll see them on your next visit!

Enjoy the photos of our new family members + Sid’s dog. And hope you are feeling the promise of Spring.

Joan and Jeff