Friday Ramble - Splendor/Splendour

Splendor...... The word is an old one dating from the early fifteenth century at least. It has its roots in the Latin splendēre, in the late Middle English and archaic French splendure, all meaning to shine, and NOT in a quiet or understated way. To be robed in splendor is to shimmer and sparkle and glisten and spangle, to be lit from within as if from a sacred source. That which is truly splendid captures our attention and holds us bewitched and enthralled within its light.

Splendor is the first roses of the summer blooming in the garden behind the little blue house in the village - their color, their fragrance, their velvety dew-dappled texture a few minutes after sunrise, the rich cream at their verges moving through shades of rosy pink and apricot, inward to a perfect cupped golden heart.

Later, as the roses pause for breath in their exuberant blooming, splendor is the crinkly pink of dancing poppies, the perfumed scarlet perfection of whole colonies of bergamot nodding along the old wooden fence.

In July, my garden doesn't just shine or cultivate splendor - it dazzles the eyes.