We have achieved springiness. Perfect early spring weather in Texas. We won't get many bluebonnets, due to the winter drought, but I do love me a cool, sunny, blustery day after a good rain kind of Texas spring. I'm also singing with the music director whom I worked with to promote the Texas Bach Festival a few years ago. The festival, also in March, prompted me to write an article which nobody was interested in, but it did paint a picture of exquisite Baroque music resounding in the turbulent, central Texas spring.
We adore the bluebonnets. They represent the most maternal aspect of the Hill Country. A velvety, electric blue blanket flowing over the land. We watch that endless ocean of transform through purple to red through orange to yellow by the time summer heat parches the land.
Some folks from Texas A & M University have an excellent bluebonnet site. Those Aggies are experts in plants, among other things. A children's book, can't remember the name, tells the bluebonnet story of a little girl's sacrifice to save her people. I like both stories.
At the risk of sounding trite, the music I associate with this time of year is Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." The rawness and frenzy of musical lightning and wind (sturm und drang) is a perfect soundtrack for Texas in the spring. There's the more refined version of the vernal equinox as inspiration--"C'est moi de mai," is one of my favorites from the French Renaissance.
The full moon serves to intensify the forces at work. I'm drenched in psychic energy. My friend Bruce from the Sangha Cafe in Wimberley says this is the second of the "four Maiden Moons of the Triple Goddess cycle. It means whatever you want--except undeniably the lunar energy overflows & you can ride the crest of the wave only if you observe it consciously." Actually he wrote it last month for the first of the MMs, but the overflowing lunar energy is what drenched me today.
Then there was the washing of the feet and the stripping of the altar, accompanied by Schutz, Tallis, and Palestrina, representing the German, English, and Italian Renaissance. A magical day celebrating the renewal of the body and spirit.
3.21.2008
Vernal equinox + full moon + maundy thursday
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8 comments:
Hi Claudia! Thanks for stopping by Europe String. I'm having a great time reading through your blog.
I love those Texas bluebonnets! And to think of all those years my daughter spent at UT earning her Ph.D., and all the times I visited her, I never did manage to time it right to view them firsthand! Now I have to go find my CD with Stravinski's Rite of Spring.
Oh yes, Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" is a favorite of mine. I also envision the Grand Canyon every time I hear Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite."
Re earlier posts: I do attend a writing class -- am the only blogger. I keep trying to get them to branch out, but think there's a general attitude to do so would take away from writing time. Some want publishing but in traditional media only. A few older writers present, but most younger than I.
Bluebonnets are awesome!!!! Vivaldi's "Spring" (part of his Four Seasons) is my fave -- it's so sprightly, a body has gotta smile.
Hey, jul, thanks for stopping by. I'll be contacting you for some advice about traveling Eastern Europe. At the moment, we're being eaten alive by the devaluation of the dollar. The trip will be dear, indeed!
joared, the "GCS" is one of my earliest musical memories. I, too, belong to a writer's group, but have been so busy I haven't been able to attend as often as I would like. The group is decidedly print- rather than electronically-oriented. That's OK, us writers need a mix, I think.
alice, spring is so moveable in Texas, it's difficult to time the bluebonnets. Normally March-April, and gone by graduation time. If we don't get enough fall-winter rain, the bluebonnets are sparse. I'll try to put up a typical patch this year, not as brilliant as last year.
Kay, I'd forgotten Vivaldi--"Winter" is my favorite of the Four Seasons!
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