Snow Sparkles

A Victoria, B.C. photo from
November 2017

Pristine snow sparkling 

in the sun puts the lie 

to ice cold days

“Nature gives to every time and season 

some beauties of its own.”

~ Charles Dickens

Monday Thanks

It’s more than just Monday. 

It’s an everyday thing. 

Like the trees and the seasons. 

Trees that stand guard and 

seasons that change.

When I got in my little blue car 

to drive away in 1988 I couldn’t 

know that I would grow up for 

32 years. I couldn’t know of all 

the seasons that would pass, that I

would return to new growth and 

growing in my family; carrying 

all the ancestral bits of DNA of 

an ever spreading family. Branches of an original tree. But for now, I hear the rustle of golden leaves, 

stirred by the wind of a changing 

season and know that I am home.

It’s more than just Monday. 

It’s an everyday thing. 

Like the trees and the seasons. 

Trees that stand guard and 

seasons that change.

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments 

when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

~ Thornton Wilder

Berry Red

Once again, I was walking to an appointment, not paying much attention to anything but where my feet were going, 

to avoid any stray and threatening pebbles; the cars parked along the street snugged up against the curb; 

a saw horse with a sheet of plywood planning to be part of a wall, or maybe a dog house. It was the bright red that reached 

out and pulled at my eyes. The 

berries that had previously been 

green and ready to go, on another day 

were blushing at being caught out in 

the sun, and on this day were brilliant 

whispers of the ripening season that slips 

us slowly into the turn of the seasons. 

But not just yet.

“You notice. And noticing you live.”

~ John Graves, writer

(August 1920 - July 2013)

On an Afternoon Walk ~ In Song

Winter or summer, fall or spring, this Song Tree tells me what season is upon us. In winter it grows a long white beard, in summer’s shade it is home for all manner of life, in the fall the wind cleans debris from its branches and hollows. Today it seemed to lean farther back on its old dry trunk to sing to the avenue of the leaf green tips ready to burst all around.

“There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, 

but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.”

~ Minnie Aumônier, (1865 - 1952)

*artist, costume designer, poet and writer

*from <thedailygardener.org>

Always a Path

The squirrel cage of overthinking always needs a walk in the park, bringing spinning thoughts to play 

in winter snow 

 or summer sun

  or springtime gardens 

    or kicking leaves in the fall

to find the path 

running through it all.

“If you don’t know where you want to go, 

then it doesn’t matter which path you take.”

~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Missed the Memo!

A potato plant - I think. This plant was not paying attention to the weather as plants are known to do. About a month ago, it sprouted. I had no idea what it was, but decided to let it keep growing. Because it rose from the soil right beside the Hens and Chicks ‘mom’, I thought maybe that’s what it was. But no, the stem just kept growing. In the last week, it has leafed out ~ barely ~ but continued to grow, despite the frost on the window. And the fact that, I have not watered the soil much because of the succulents there! This is one confused potato! 

Where did it come from? I had planted some sprouted potatoes almost a year ago. When I prepared the soil for the succulents, I thought I had all the old sprouts out. Wrong. I guess I’ll just see what happens to it - whether it's a potato or not. 

“But is there no intent of an analogy 

between man’s life and the seasons?”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

On an Afternoon Walk - A Song for All Seasons

I have a ceramic story tree on my desk. J.R.R.Tolkein wrote of Treebeard, the oldest of the Ents, in Lord of the Rings. J.K.Rowling wrote of the Whomping Willow in Harry Potter. On the farm, I’d go in the grass between stunted prairie trees to read. In Victoria, B.C. the gnarled old Garry Oaks enchanted me and reminded me of our arching elms here in Regina. The swaths of pine and fir on the mountain sides are mysterious and mystical. 

To add some music to these forested memories, this 'singing tree' greets me on my walks to the grocery store. In spring, it welcomes sprouting branches, in summer displays these wonderful green leaves, in autumn bejewelled in yellow, orange and red and in winter wears a beard of snow. My friend is always changing and forever unchanged.

“Trees are the poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”

~ Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam

Chapter Two, Episode 154 - Seasoning - Situationally Theirs

Seasoning

More paper work! Dez hated paperwork. She could her mother saying “Desperanza, you shouldn’t hate anything, dear.” But she did hate paperwork. She and her sister had first searched for the location of the B.C.Fruit company, but it was only on the mainland. If Matt sold his fruit there then he must have paid a bundle for shipping them on the ferry. There were different cooperatives up and down the Island, but no B.C. Fruit company. She knew shipping anything involved paperwork and that did not make her happy. “Are you sure that’s what he said, Dez?” 

“I wrote it in my iPad as soon as it came out of his mouth. Maybe he just made a mistake.”

The two women were pursuing a way for the Estate to make some money. Emelina had learned that the trust fund Michael had left her was being stretched uncomfortably thin. If they could get the orchard producing more next year, it just might help. Not necessarily save them, but help. Dez had talked with her about ‘Farm Gate sales’. It would mean more work for Samuel and he seemed to be slowing down. Would they be able to hire someone to work with him? She hadn’t broached that yet. Now this. Which of the cooperatives would they approach? It would have to be the nearest one, just because of gas. They’d need vehicles to transport the fruit - or would the cooperatives want their own? “This is giving me a headache, Em. It’s a good thing it’s the end of the season. We’ll have all winter to get organized.”

Emelina laughed. “Knowing you, I’ll have to give you a plan to follow or you’ll just curl up and forget that spring does get here!” She hugged her sister. “We don’t have to get it all set today, just  start a plan with days and times to get it done. Including orchard work. I don’t know what needs doing. Samuel talks about pruning and cleaning up the orchard.” Dez relaxed. “You’re right, Em. I guess I was getting ahead of myself. And worried about me not being a help but a hindrance to you. Let’s go for lunch and look at all these brochures.”

~~~~~

Over lunch, Em assured her sister that she had been a help for most of the time they had been back together. “It was just those first days of the pandemic when you were just bossy and grumpy.”

“That was pretty rude wasn’t it. You picked me up in the middle of the night, took me into your home, gave me whatever I needed without a complaint.” The sisters laughed over all the silly things they had done. Just like back in their teenage years in their shared bedroom at home. “I think that if we could get over that, we can handle this.” Dez took a big drink of her water. “So what do you think about the Farm Gate idea? We wouldn’t have much produce right away. We’ll have to talk to Samuel about that too. We may be able to sell some of our flowers as they come up. I know he doesn’t think much about flowers, but if it helps pay for his vegetables, he may think differently.”

Emelina put her sandwich down and looked out the window. She turned back to Dez. “You know, I think I like becoming a farmer. I don’t know that I’ll be much good at it, but with everyone’s help we can make a real go of it.” She hesitated, picked up her sandwich again, and smiled. “Maybe we could even get chickens and we’d have eggs to sell.”

“Whoa, Em! Let’s not get carried away…….although………you may have a good idea. Put that on your list of things to do. You’d have to be in charge of that because I’m doing the orchard. Who would be at the Farm Gate stand when it was time?” She beckoned the waiter over. “Could I please have some coffee, cream and sugar..Em do you want some?.....And for my sister as well. Thanks” 

“The other people we have to get involved are Cook and Martha. I suspect Cook will be worried that we’ll sell all the tomatoes before she can get her hands on them.” Dez’s face lit up. “We could have special days for selling some of her baking! I hope she’s not looking at retiring.”

~~~~~

At the end of the day, their planning had turned to dreaming about what could be. The actual work that would go into those dreams was a minor detail. Dez had worked the orchard for a over a year and knew that besides painting, she belonged with the apple trees and honey bees. Em, just in talking with Dez, had also found a place she never had considered before. Excited about growing food, selling food, donating food, being involved in the farming community..... she felt more alive than she had in a long time. To share their dream was icing on the cake.

“Farming is not just a job. It’s a responsibility and a privilege.”

~ Joel Watson

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Apologetic

dried, crisp and bowed

while leaves remain 

the trees green and full 

as the season passes.

“We need never be ashamed of our tears.”

~ Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Nature's Respect

Climbing, growing deep green;

clinging to sturdy supports

until autumn chill splashes 

brilliant reds and golds

while roots lie deep

surviving each season

to climb and grow again.

“Heaven is under our feet as well as above our heads.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

To Come Again

 

fine rain

  cool breezes

    overcast skies

      yellowing leaves 

seasons change

  one to the other 

    until summer 

      returns again

“I think that to one in sympathy with nature, 

each season, in turn, seems the loveliest.”

~ Mark Twain

In Turn

Bold and glossy green leaves on 

stems once laden with berries 

stripped by birds readying 

for turn of seasons.

“Delicious autumn! If I were a bird I would fly 

about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”

~ George Eliot

An 'Everything?'

Everything has a 

reason

    season

But no one tells

when or

                why

So it’s just one step

and then

               two………..

’Til a design of an ‘everything’ shows

a reason for  

  whatever the season.

“When life brings you full circle, pay attention. There’s a lesson there.”

~ Mandy Hale,  The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

On an Afternoon Walk ~ Wind

Icy wind at my back

like cold fingers 

pushing me forward

in this still new 

life of retirement

learning the ways

and beliefs of

me, myself and I.

As spring arrives and

summer follows ~

seasons change while 

prairie winds blow

warm, hot, or cool

still pushing me forward

learning the ways

and beliefs of 

my renewed community.

“I am still learning.”

~ Michelangelo

**Inspired by this afternoon’s walk in a wintery-spring wind.