My manzanita tree started blooming in January; this always surprises me. It remains sweetly dotted with clusters of pink flowers. Underneath, the sundrops have begun to open, too.
[Update: That’s all I wrote about the manzanita. The tree below is an Atlas Cedar, Cedrus atlantica, native to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.]
When I took a walk the other morning I passed by this tree (above), and looked more closely than usual. The droopy form doesn’t normally appeal to me, but this time I noticed the scrunchy way the short needles congregated on the branches, and liked that part very much.
Granny Marigold mentioned that tonight was the Snow (Full) Moon. When I saw that on her blog, the sun was still out, so I noted the time of moonrise and set an alarm to remind myself to go look. It was supposed to be “partly cloudy” tonight so maybe I’d see a moon, maybe not…
When I shut the front door behind me, there she was, just rising over my neighbors’ rooftops. I was wearing two wool sweaters, so I stood leaning against my house for a while, because it seemed a shame to say only a brief Hello and go back to closed-in walls. I walked around the front garden a bit. The street light shone down and made sparklelights of the raindrops that remained on the teucrium from today’s earlier downpours.
It occurs to me now that I should have taken a chair out there, so I could have sat a while with the Snow Moon. Though I was all alone, it made me feel close to all my fellow humans who were looking at the moon tonight, or who through the ages have admired her journey up the heavens. The next full moon will be March 7th –I will try to love that one better.
Gladsome Lights 
What an interesting shape your manzanita tree is! Last night’s full moon was so bright that I could see the colours in my garden in the very early hours of the morning and find my way through the house without having to turn on any lights.
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That is not my manzanita tree pictured. Sorry to be confusing.
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🙂
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The trunk of your manzanita is amazing. Growth forms always intrigue me, and that’s a neat one. I’ve heard this full moon also called the hunger moon, since many Native Americans saw their stores of food declining at this time. Long periods of snow and hunger go together, of course: even for the wild creatures.
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Sorry, it was silly of me to post a picture of an unnamed tree while talking about my manzanita. That is not my tree and looks nothing like a manzanita. I’ll need to fix that when I get to my computer…
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That moon is a stunner! (You’re sure it wasn’t a balloon?!) And the tree, gorgeous. It will be such a while before we see such things here. Keep ’em coming!
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Your Atlas Cedar must be the Atlas Blue Cedar that is such a big part of an old 1950s favorite movie and book! A widow falls in love with her gardener–something not to be done in the 1950s! But he is more than a gardener, he owns a nursery where he grows trees and his very favorite tree he grows is the Atlas Blue Cedar. It is very slow growing he says. I’ve begged for one for years but RH, nursery and garden center owner for the first 20 years of our marriage, has never come across one. If everything beautiful is in Heaven then I’m counting on Atlas Blue Cedars to be there!
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Oh, my, Dewena, if I had seen such a movie maybe I would have more liking for what seem to me to be just weird trees. Or, if I had grown up near the mountains of Morocco 😉
I bet you could mail order a tree, but if they are slow-growing, I guess it might be disappointing, compared to your romantic vision. ❤
What is the name of the book, or movie? Do you remember? I think I need to see it!
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I forgot to give the name, sorry! It’s All That Heaven Allows, book by the same name and I think the authors are Edna and Harry Lee. It’s a very pretty movie with Rock Hudson as the nurseryman, Jane Wyman as the widow, and her girlfriend is the great Agnes Moorehead. I saw the movie first, many times before I read the book so I loved the prettiness of it visually and was disappointed that some of the scenes weren’t in the book but of course the book went into much more depth of the plot. The 1950s setting was wonderful in the movie.
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The manzanita makes me think of Bonsai trees with its twisted trunk.
I’m glad you got to see and enjoy the moon last evening. There’s just something amazing about a full moon. Because we have so many cloudy days I’m always thrilled when I get to see one, even if sometimes it’s seen a day early or last. I’ll be watching in the beginning of March, you can be sure.
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That Atlas cedar is glorious! How unusual it is! And so beautiful in its own way. And the moon and the Manzanita tree are also beautiful! So much beauty around us every day.
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Love the sweet blooms on the Manzanita. We have some curly trunk bush or tree that the deer seem to have killed off with their nibbles. We’ll see if it comes back this spring. Those are great clusters of growth. Sounds like a very nice time of being still and enjoying that moon…
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I was with you, unbeknownst!! surprised by Joy!
Leslie
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Leslie, Evidently WordPress doesn’t support images in comments… But I think I know what was in the picture!
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