the garden

April 10th

the forsythia has just come into flower
and there is one just outside the dining room window

February 20th

Last night
as i was getting dressed to go out for an early dinner with a friend
the storm clouds thinned and the sun bathed the trees
and tall steeple of the church down the hill from here

the warm amber light and silky soft sky
made my heart leap up

it's been awhile
feeling that free of all other thoughts
and simply drinking in light
a cropped and altered version of the first post, using PhotoShop filters

November 24th

It's been a most peculiar season
the late autumn leaves are still on the trees
and while i have loved the glorious color and light
filling our windows
the leaves are usually all swept up and composted by now.

It's been more than a bit topsy turvy and confusing around here.
Last week i took the hammock off its frame just before
a two-day snow storm blew through
(that's a little wren house hanging from the arch
beneath four inches of fluffy crystals)

a few days later
when i went out to pick up our holiday turkey and fixin's
it was nearly 70 degrees F.

Check the calendar once again...yes, it really is Thanksgiving.

And
we put the hammock back out.
(Hey...what do you think they invented Polar Fleece for?)

This morning dawned with a brilliant blue sky
and nineteen crystalline degrees.
with the neighbor's cats watching
i scooped the solid disc of ice out of the bird bath
and poured in fresh water
the moment i moved far enough away they came
one at a time to slake their thirst.

Then i pulled the hood of my thickest, fleesiest jacket over my head
and stretched out in the sun on the hammock
to enjoy what is most likely the last of this year's color
while it is still in the sky.

August 10th

Many of you have had too much
too many others have not received enough.
As the summer began, i wondered and worried:
would we have rain
or would i spend the months moving sprinklers
and hauling watering cans?
Previous years of drought have  impressed upon my mind
a simple, basic truth:
no amount of irrigation nurtures the land
the way rain does.