Noticeable

I like to notice the world around me, 

 bees nuzzling sunflowers, 

  thunderstorms being built in the sky, 

 rain pelting down or in a mist, 

  glorious sunsets on the prairies,

 colourful tiny bird houses in a tree, 

  snow settling soft and gentle,

 wind raking through the trees 

  prairie flowers bright, small and delicate

but today I saw new sight: 

three geese on an ordinary city sidewalk.

not Canada geese but 

squat, waddling, brash and bossy 

geese with insistent honking that rivalled 

their much larger cousins.

No pausing for a photo op either!

Upon inquiry: 

   “they are from a goose farm!”

“You can find pictures anywhere. It’s simply a matter 

of noticing things and organizing them.”

~ Elliott Erwitt, photographer

Silent Wings

Four geese flew low 

preparing for the long flight south 

it is always comforting to hear 

that soft ruffle of their wings 

then I know that a part of nature 

is blood and bone as are we ~ 

traversing life on the silent wings of 

ancestors, family and friends.

“You are born to fly, and in dreams you remember the soul has wings.”

~ Robert Moss, Australian historian

The Chill of Autumn

October, 2008
Hazeldell Orchards, Kelowna

Autumn shows up faithfully each year to the call of the geese gathering flocks; with boisterous winds cold and rough edged.

Bales of straw and hay, rolled and tied, lie quietly in fields of gold, a nest for mice and voles until trucked away.

Leaves, as if by magic, change into their beautiful red, gold, orange hues readying for the final float to the ground.

Fruits, vegetables and grain, 

ripe for harvesting, fill markets 

with abundance for winter 

sustenance and goodness.

Soups and stews bubble and steam

to serve the bounty of harvest 

at the table; warming insides 

to ease the loss of summer.

Sweaters and blankets, their cosy warmth 

for colder days and nights, are 

resurrected from dark cupboards 

~ friendly companions in the chill of autumn.

“I notice that Autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The World of the Prairies 3

 

In spring, give me a church 

made entirely of tender green leaves and blossoms 

of pink and white; 

grey-white blankets of 

cloud let the land drink deep 

while winds threaten to strip the trees of their beauty 

geese raucously announce their homecoming, 

settling on lakes and rivers to grow their flocks.

Yet it is a gentle, growing season ~ I stay outside 

on my veranda to watch and listen 

as spring wakens us all.

“Is the spring coming?” He said. “What is it like?”

“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”

~ Frances Hodgson Burnett,  The Secret Garden

Give me a church made entirely of ….. from the poem Sea Church by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

*Author’s note: and after winter comes spring…….

City Trails

Easy to follow along, 

leaving no footprints yet

imprinting your energy 

as you pass under trees 

lining the street.

Solid grey paths that lead 

to a library, a park, a store, 

or museum where life is 

bought and paid for with 

plastic or coin or the time 

it takes to make a path 

under ancient trees,

down to the restless water; 

skirting spring geese 

searching the murky shore.

Returning home, following 

a new cement trail that boasts 

cracks that heave from 

winter freeze and spring thaw 

under trees lining the street.

“I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”

~ Robert Frost

Curtain Call

Sensations that wash 

over me, through me, 

may be missed if I 

forget to stand still 

slowly or if I rush 

through the minutes of 

the day to get to some 

unknown destination. 

Sensations of joy in a 

sudden phone call, the 

smile of a passerby, 

my name called in a 

grocery store, a new 

baby’s cry, the echoing 

calls of southbound geese 

~ life’s curtain in the wind.

“There is something hidden in each sensation.”

~ Gustavo Cerati, singer-song writer

(August 1959 - September 2014)

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Under the Warm Sun

Under a warm sun, 

a stroll by the ruffled lake,

quiet geese foraged in the grass

a picnic table to write and muse

trees played with a cooling wind

taking leave of this peaceful shelter 

delicate flowers nodded to me

on my measured journey back home.

“What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise 

and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?” 

~ E.M. Forster

Like a Child

Like a child

I stopped

ears tuned to distant honking

eyes lifted to the treetops

Where are they?

I can’t see!

head craned back

scanning through 

crisping golden leaves~

suddenly 

they appeared ~

geese arrowing  

from Wascana Lake

~ incredible migration in flight.

“I am a child who is getting on.”

~ Marc Chagall, author

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Cornering ~ 2

I know. Excitement about the weather sounds pretty pathetic and this picture, well it's not all that interesting. 

We’ve had a nasty cold, windy spring here on the prairies. But today! Today, we may just have turned the corner! A perimeter of open water all around the thawing lake with these little ice islets here and there. 

No toque, no scarf, no mittens……just the warm sun and a spring breeze. White puffy clouds. Geese and ducks breaking off thinning ice to clamber out of the water.

“If you want to see the sunshine, 

you have to weather the storm.”

~ Frank Lane

Before the Summer’s Dry

Landing gently on

snow melt ponds draining 

through the trees of Wascana 

park, pairing ducks and geese

enjoy this bounty of nature

before the summer’s dry.

“There is something infinitely healing in the related refrains of nature - 

the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

~ Rachel Carson

On an Afternoon Walk - Impatience!

Puddles on sidewalks!

Sand-filled sidewalks!

When will spring show up!?

When will the sun warm the world?

then the lake stretched ahead

with patchy soft frozen ice.

and the sky filled with

ruffled, drifting clouds

geese called to each other ~

pairing for new fluffy families

prehistoric looking trees ~ buds held tight

branches bravely bare, stand tall.

Grateful and content ~ I turned toward home

Puddled, sandy sidewalks merely a bother.

“You’re trying to eat grass that isn’t there. 

Why don’t you give it a chance to grow?”

~ Richard Adams, Watership Down

On An Afternoon Walk - Signs of Spring?

I have seen rabbits running and chasing,

heard honking geese flying high over

ever melting piles of sand laden snow.

March flowers, left in Victoria, are

replaced by barely budding trees 

and softening ice on Regina’s lake.

A tiny flick and a spot of bright red 

from above, caught my eye.

A fluffy bit of Regina spring ~ 

a new red squirrel, alert and bright of eye!

“Spring was moving in the air and in the earth below and around him.”

~ Kenneth Grahame

(British author of The Wind in the Willows)