Daffodils

Today is the day William Wordsworth published his first copy of the poem I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud in 1807. His later revision was in 1815. Perhaps this poem teaches us we must commit to the best things we have seen and heard to our memory so that our inward eyes can recall them. William and his sister Dorothy were walking home one day in the Lake District in England near Ullswater Lake when they observed a huge field of daffodils dancing in the wind. Dorothy wrote their observations in a journal and William two years later wrote this famous poem. When he revised it a second time his wife Mary even added lines 21-22.

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. William Wordsworth

Celebrate Spring with a Daffodil Cake and Tangy Lemon Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 box angel food cake mix
• 1/4 tsp. yellow food coloring
• 1 tsp water
• 6TB. softened butter
• 5 -1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• milk

Directions:

• Prepare cake mix as directed on box
• Equally divide the batter into two bowls
• Mix water and food coloring add to one bowl of batter-blend
• Spoon batter into tube pan-alternating batter white -yellow-white-yellow
• Bake as directed-invert- cool and frost
• The cake will frost better if refrigerated an hour so its firm

Frosting:

• Beat 5TB. softened butter or margarine till fluffy
• Beat in 5-1/2 cups powdered sugar with 3 tsp. lemon zest and 1/3 cup lemon juice
• Use about 1/3 cup milk to get spreading consistency
• Frost and add lemon zest on top
  
• Can sprinkle toasted coconut on top and sides after frosting or try macadamia chips on top