A quote I read recently by the late Stephen Hawking made me stop and think. Then it sent me on a spiral of thoughts.
I wondered if there is a word for a collector of quotes? So, off I headed, straight to you know where to look it up and yes, apparently I am a ‘quodophile’. There you go then, who knew. Another label to my box.
Perhaps not a box, perhaps I am, as we most probably all are, a whole index card system of labels. I can’t after all complain, as I love to learn the collective nouns for animals and birds, or the Latin names for Flowers, Plants and Trees or to discover the names of butterflies, damselflies, anything really. A name is a starting point for discovery.
I digress.
The quote from Stephen Hawking was about intelligence being the ability to adapt to change.
Change is difficult, it is exciting, it is opening a new file in your life.
As I thought about the quote, more and more, I decided I would add an extra part, for myself.
Intelligence is also the ability to create a routine thereby when changes come, you have the energy and the reserves to deal with it, knowing there is a safety net already in existence.
Spring is a time of change. The lighter days bring us hope and energy. We wait in anticipation for the first signs of flowers peeping through the dark earth like little bursts of sunshine.
Often when I am considering what to write for a blog post, coincidences occur. Such as the primroses popping up in our garden just as I have been delving into The Brief Life of Flowers by Fiona Stafford to you guessed it, learn more about flowers.
Now, here is a book for those who love to learn. One which is filled with so many information trails I have to stop and search for them. For a knowledge collector like me, a book like this is heaven.
There I was scurrying off to look up John Clare’s poem, ‘Primroses’, and John William Inchbold’s, ‘A Study in March’.
Then off I went down another rabbit hole to research women who were botanical painters.
The primroses in our garden have been returning year on year. Time and again I have split them. What began as two plants have given me many, many more. Now, all around the garden, there are bursts of small yellow flowers contrasting with the size of their large, floppy green leaves.
Is it with a gardener’s eye I look at them now? Noticing not only their beauty, but when they appear, which plants are flowering and which ones will need dividing. For of course, is that not the role of a gardener, to be constantly thinking to the future. There, another label for me, a gardener. Definitely a label I would pin to my lapel with pride.
Thoughts of the future have also drawn me to the past. It was after all, on a trip to our local garden centre with my parents that I bought the original primroses. There are many plants in our garden that were gifted to us by my parents; sedum (Hylotelephium), anemones, a tiny lilac tree. On occasion I will find myself talking to these plants, memories drifting back of my parents’ visits and although I know I have adapted as best I can for the moment, to the changes that have taken place in our lives, as I see their flowers emerge, the routine of the garden is of great comfort to me.
Being perhaps foolhardy, I have sown some seeds, teasel and sweet peas. Very early for here but, the sun is shining and there they were. Fingers crossed!
One final note:
A lovely friend sent me this article by Susie Dent. As a logophile, I love learning new words (okay, I know, I have already said, I love learning full stop) so this made my day to learn that I am a librocubicularist – I thought perhaps I was just lazy! Yet another label, and I am okay with that.
So, there we go, some random thoughts on learning and springtime. Wishing you all much joy as the spring flowers appear.
Do you have a favourite word or springtime flower?
I am reading: (so many books, you wouldn’t believe it – and yes there is a TBR pile on the bedside table!)
Wind Swept: Why Women Walk by Annabel Abbs
The Wonder by Diana Evans
The Book of Tree Poems, an anthology edited by Ana Sampson
In The Hedgerow by Nathalie Tordjman, illustrated by Sylvaine Perol
It would be lovely if you would like to pop over to www.mybookcorner.co.uk where you can read my reviews of books for children. There is the opportunity to sign up for the newsletter there as well, providing you with great recommendations sent straight to your inbox.
Switch the Kettle on, Love 