The first sign of spring was when the teachers
at Maple Ave. School began the spring flower seed sale!
it was very exciting!
we would be given the most beautiful packets
with those mysteriously crunchy seeds..
and beautiful pictures on the packets
of marigolds, nasturtium, morning glories...
even carrots, radishes...alyssum and bachelor buttons....
and dahlias
to sell to our neighbors....
we ended up buying many of them....
they were so pretty....
it was time for the wooden cream cheese boxes...
and my mom and I started planting....
I don't believe she quite shared my enthusiasm...!
as I don't remember much happening after that...
but I have made up for it in later years...
and my love for flowers began exactly there!!!
I can still feel the early breezes of springtime in Newark...
there was a certain April breeze that was so clear...
I used to feel like my ears were seashells with breezes blowing
in them...
out of the snow came the spring...
and when I would walk across Clinton Place...
I remember smelling a hyacinth in someone's garden....
it was the first time I ever smelled that exquisite fragrance....
and I have never smelled a hyacinth since...
without remembering that very first one....
I smelled my first lilac in Newark....
and my first rose...
that is no small thing....
one of the great sensual moments of my life.....
I came alive in those moments....
and found joy.
and so...a tribute to the coming of spring in Newark....
the first little crocus plants...the early forsythia...
the first sign of forsythia and we knew spring was here!!!
sometimes, they would be dusted with a surprise snowfall
or a spring rain....
the maple trees with those lacy chartreuse clusters
were ready to burst....
and then the early dogwoods...
the shy pussy willows....
then came the radiant cherry blossoms...
(Branchbrook park of course)
and roses.....
my uncle planted us a beautiful garden
at 1153 Bergen Street....
another place we lived....
and we had so many kinds of roses...
49ers...mojave...lavender sterling silver...crimson glory....
and then rows of radish tulips...
hens and chickens...
lilies of the valley...so delicate...
the most dainty bells and fragrance....
and then the amazing magnolias....
there were tiny bright blue weeds...
and little pink beaded weeds in the cracks...
Queen Anne's lace....
azaleas of all colors, fuchsia, purple and pink...
hydrangea snowballs...
bright red Japanese maples...flowering plums...
the hosta plants that you could snap...
PUGNOSES...hurray for the pugnoses
we put them on our noses and looked like Pinocchio...!
and then....lilies of the valley..
and the LILACS......
and scallion grass by an old boarding house on Elizabeth Ave....
how I loved to eat them!!
Newark was so beautiful in the spring...
that will always be the spring that I remember.....
....and Weequahic park in the springtime
was like a dream...
at the Lyons Ave.. entrance
were chestnut trees...
and I would pick the spiky balls
off the ground and pull out
the shiny brown chestnuts....
...on the path to the rose garden...
was an Osage orange tree....
it took me years to find out what it was...
I only saw it in Weequahic Park when I was little.
I thought I was dreaming till I found out that it really does exist...
like a chartreuse grapefruit!
it was the first and last one I ever saw...
and the hill by the rose garden was perfect for rolling down...
and then a race to the rose garden
with the water fountain in the middle....
with the wooden fence and pergola
with the lovely rambling roses...
and that pebbly path.....
the green benches with the neighborhood ladies...
with their wedgies and housecoats....
and mothers with beautiful perambulators
with mosquito nets on them...
and little metal strollers...
my Uncle Max and Aunt Bea would take me
to the playground on Saturdays....
and I would sit on the bench
while Uncle Max made hats for me
out of the Newark evening news...
and we would watch the rings in the puddles
as we threw in pebbles....
I used to have my mother read
Uncle Wiggly, Jiggs, Oaky Doaks, little Nancy
and Cappy Dick's column to me very often...
and once I won a packet of Indian beads
from Cappy Dick for sending a colored bear
into the Newark evening news
for Cappy Dick's contest.
....in the spring...
after we had dinner at The Tavern...
my mother would drive by the racetrack
and we would watch the trotters....
as the sun was setting....
it was so peaceful...
many of the most beautiful experiences of my life...
my first springtime.....
happened in Newark....
when my uncle came out with the hedge clipper...
there would often be ladybugs on the leaves...
and as the spring continued...
there would be mint in the garden
for my grandma's fresh lemonade...
leaves on our mulberry bush...
and soon it would be time for my navy blue coat...white gloves..
Maryjane shoes and Easter bonnet!
time to catch the 107 bus on Lyons Ave. into New York
for the Easter Parade!
and always there were evenings on the stoop....
as my uncle mowed the lawn...
waiting for the glow of the fireflies...
the wonderful fireflies in Newark....
I don't think I will ever forget
sitting on the stoop with my mother...
on spring nights
her iced coffee in hand....
and a cupcake from the Bergen Bake Shop....
better than a trip to Paris...
better than a visit to Hawaii...
was the spring evening
with my mother on the stoop.....
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