Ella has a little patch of miniature daffodils in her patio garden ("daffodillies" as she likes to call them) that come up every spring. Originally a small flower pot with a few bulbs already blooming that she bought at the grocery store, once the blooms had died she planted the bulbs in her yard. The bulbs have since multiplied over the years in that corner of her garden - a miniature representation of the scene in Dr. Zhivago that she loves.
Ella would often recite the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth, specifically the line “When all at once I saw a crowd,/ A host, of golden daffodils.” She had memorized this poem as a school girl, and the sight of daffodils would bring those words to mind.
On a trip to Scotland in May 2017 with Ella and Ralph, we could see thousands of daffodils in green patches beside the road. The blooms had just faded, but based on the amount of green leaves still present, we could imagine how stunning the scene was. It was a great opportunity to see if Ella could still recall lines to the poem.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
By William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
