Where am I from? Spring in Romania
In these 6 years since I came to US, I managed to go home several times, sometimes just for vacation, and a couple of times for not so joyful reasons (my mom got very sick and passed away). But I'm going to take you to a happy trip back home! And I hope you're going to join me. So please take a confy chair to sit, grab your favorite cold drink, and hop in!
I come from a little European country, where winter, spring, summer and fall come faithfully every year. Romania is small, but beautiful, with mountains and hills and plateaus and plains and even seaside. But, as a (formerly) adopted Miamian, in the 6 years since my leaving home, I’ve never went to the seaside (Black Sea) again.
It was only this year that I managed to go during springtime, mid-April. The first spring in 6 years!!! And this is what I found:
Tulips, faithfully returning tulips, that have been in our garden (Bucharest, in the plains) since I was a little girl.
Spring for the Tropics! My vacation in my first HOME
Busy bees in the peonies. This is the first we’ve got, some 25 years ago, and he is the pride and joy of my father. Though the credit for having such a beauty in our garden goes to Grandma, my father took care of him, over-wintering and pruning and propagating. And every spring, when the flowers put up a show, people on the street stop in front of our gate, uuhhh-ing and aaahhh-ing, and asking all kinds of questions.
The original one is still going and blooming, and is located in my first garden (a patch of 1ft by 4 ft, that also had many tulips in. Now it’s the pink peony tree and lily-of-the-valley.)
Best-funniest comment we ever heard (a lady talking with her husband in front of our gate): “honey, I told you: you shouldn’t cut our peonies, see how big they can get?”
Unfortunately, she was talking about the regular (and more common back home) ones, that die back during winter and sprout again each spring…
This peony has a story. It’s presence in our garden is a cooperative effort. It happened about 15-17 years ago, when I saw a purple-red peony somewhere in the neighborhood. I alerted the whole family. My mom went to ask for a cutting – she was offering in exchange a pink peony tree cutting. And she came home with one. My father rooted it, and managed to multiply both our peonies, so now we have two of each. He rooted more (he basically does this every year), but gave them away to other plant-lovers.
From my hometown to my husband's it's only 40 miles' distance. Still in the plains, so the nature is pretty much similar. Chestnut/Buckeye Boulevard is famous for the blooming chestnuts (non-edible). This is a very romantic place to have a stroll, pairs holding hands, high-school students missing classes for a couple of stolen kisses...
I hope you enjoyed the trip, and the cool spring breeze!
Thank you,
Alexandra
Alexandra, thank you SO much for the lovely trip home to your country, what a wonderful place you grew up in! I will have to go through all the pictures a second time - they're gorgeous!
Alexandra. My thanks also. I agree with Bravehartsmom, and again welcome to Texas. Jerry
Dear Jenny and Jerry, thank you for your kind and encouraging words!
Alexandra