Hoping for Spring - Collecting Daffodils

Hoping for Spring
Collecting Buttercups, Easter Flowers, Jonquils

Buttercups, Easter flowers, jonquils...there are so many names for them, but I prefer the term daffodils.  It's just such a fun word, so much more interesting to me than the other choices.  I have always loved these flowers, especially the bright golden yellow variety.  Long before I ever even knew how they grew from bulbs or what they symbolized, I loved them.  I remember as a young girl roaming the 20 acres my parents owned looking for daffodils peeking their way out of the cold ground.  Their first blooms usually arrived in March before even the threat of snow had passed.  They always reminded me that the cold winter was nearly over and warm spring sunshine would soon be brightening my days.

Now as I write this, it's late December and snow flurries have been teasing the Cumberland Plateau all day.  Snow is beautiful, but it's cold and I prefer the warmth of Spring.  So what will I do for the next 2 or 3 months when the chill of winter has set in and I'm missing those warm Spring days?  I'll cheer myself up with the beauty of the daffodils on display inside my home.

Here in my kitchen are two bouquets of artificial daffodils and purple irises.  They are arranged in vintage 1940s McCoy Pottery vases...white sand dollar floor vases to be exact that came from the local elementary school and had been used for many graduations as decorations thru the years and now found a way to my home as a reminder of days gone by and them also being part of my son's 8th grade graduation in 1996.  Both the vases and the bouquets were used in my wedding nearly three years ago.  On the end table in the living room is the wedding album featuring a cover background of (you guessed it) - daffodils.  An ivory bowl and pitcher featuring daffodil decals rest on the same table. 



Atop the curio cabinet in my living room sets a book by Carey E. Quinn entitled Daffodils Outdoors and In.  Inside the curio cabinet is a decorator's plate, a trinket box, and a teapot my son bought me in 2004 at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN.  They were handpainted by Ruth Widener, an elderly lady who was able to capture a piece of nature's beauty and display it forever on porcelain.  On the same shelf is a painted ceramic egg that was purchased just outside of Dunlap, TN during the 127 Yard Sale.  A boxed ladies handkerchief rests at the center of the shelf with an unusual blue embroidered daffodil.  What collection could possibly complete without Fenton Glass?  Two glass vases - 1 pink & 1 cranberry - with those same favorite flowers join my trove of treasures.  Perhaps one of my favorite daffodil pieces is on the top center shelf - a Johnson Brothers (Johnson Bros.) cup and saucer set with those beloved bright yellow daffodils dancing merrily around the rims of both pieces. 

Yes, Old Man Winter has arrived with his blustery breath and his chilly fingers flinging snowflakes down on our heads, but he won't last.  In a few months, sunshine will win and warm the soil of my flowerbed.  My flowers of hope (for that is what daffodils are) will burst from the frozen ground and nod to me assuring me that they are still there.  Old Man Winter may throw a few icy winds their way, but the flowers will win in the end reminding me that even after many cold, dark days there are warmer days to come.  Until then, I'll sip hot chocolate and enjoy my indoor collection of springlike blossoms as snow falls softly on the other side of the windowpane.

Lavona Reeves Parson