Let's Pay Attention to Spring
recent delights
There was once a car mechanic shop called Master Mechanic that was situated near my then boyfriend (now husband’s) old apartment. I would walk by it when I was going over to his house, being sure to check their reader board where they often chose to share some sort of inspiring message rather than anything related to auto parts. The all caps nature of reader boards made it all the more enthusiastic. My favourites were (not surprisingly) always to do with the season’s change. Once the sign was exclaiming “SPRING IS THE FIRST KISS OF SUMMER!” and another time, a plea, shouting, “LET’S PAY ATTENTION TO SPRING”. The latter I always find myself saying each year as I watch the trees bloom, the tulips come up, the lilacs blossom. Let’s pay attention to spring!
Here are some recent pleasures, spring related and otherwise:
Spring portraits
All winter, whenever my husband and I drove around Toronto we regularly quoted Andre Leon Talley’s viral refrain “it’s been bleak street over here in [Canada]/ it’s a famine of beauty honey.” Now, seemingly overnight, when we drive around I’m exclaiming “magnificent” or “stunning” every two seconds at every single blossoming tree I see.
Something I’ve recently loved doing is taking “spring portraits” of my friends with my instant camera* as a souvenir of the ephemeral blossom season. First I did this with Joe under a magnolia tree (above is the one he took of me). Next, Lucy and I met my friend Jiva and her baby Delphine Dot. When I saw Jiva from afar she was wearing a classic straw boater hat from France, and DD had an equally fabulous floral sun hat (from Cannes, so chic) - it’s like they knew they would be getting their spring portait taken. We talked about our experiences as new mothers, how magnolia leaves are part of the endive family and taste good dipped in green goddess dressing. She gifted me a jar of plum jam and a tube of bubbles for baby Lucy. I brought her to my favourite cluster of cherry blossoms nearby and snapped her and DD’s portrait, which is now on her fridge. I’ll keep doing this as long as the season lasts.
*I use Fujifilm Instax Wide 400. I borrowed a friend’s earlier model for my wedding day and loved having those photos as keepsakes so much I had to get my own. It’s helpful to have a stroller to stash the camera in as it is quite large.