Covers & Shells

We are fast approaching Valentine’s Day, a time of kindness, a day to celebrate love. Although many may still be hibernating from snowstorms and bone chilling cold, let’s embrace these final weeks of winter, its covers and shells. Andrew Wyeth once said, "I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show." Wyeth knew there was something special that waited under the protective layers of it all. Everything needs protection when it is fragile or cold.

Think what you can find enclosed in a circle, whether it’s a tiny shelled egg in a bird’s nest or seeds, plants and trees with its roots hidden beneath the snow. There is protection, a cover, a shell that soon shall be lifted but we are given winter so the ‘whole story doesn’t show.’ We celebrate this holiday, Valentine's Day, in the midst of cold because we need to remember that it’s a time to embrace kindness, a time to celebrate love. Embrace what protects us, those that we keep close.

This Valentine’s Day you can buy the dozen of Roses and the box of chocolates but there’s something more important – it’s what's hidden beneath the snow. It’s your garden - the soil, the roots, even the tools hidden in the potting shed. It’s your forgotten containers and urns waiting for the 2014 Petunia selection to make a stunning debut.

So when you grumble and search for the mittens, the covers and the shells to protect us from this bone chilling winter day, think what waits beneath the snow. And think Valentine’s Day to help you remember what we embrace eventually blossoms and grows.

© February Petunia Thoughts © Image by Ann Bilowz

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