more redbud at last, mostly

post #486
          I am not always here in April, and the redbuds are not always as spectacular as they were this year. But these trees call to me every year. Here's the second collection of spring flowers and their companion redbuds. 
        I feel compelled to share these earlier photos of this time of year. I seek to affirm and honor that 1) change happens, and 2) there's reliable evidence that things renew every season, just as the terrible time we currently experience won't last forever. Of course there will be changes as life turns closer to normal, but there will be redbuds next spring for sure.

apple orchard, ringed with redbuds.

rue anemone, in the forest -- and a shout out to Channing and Amy who both, separately but at the same time,  jolted my memory for the name of this early flower that is easily missed if you don't get there in a timely manner

It's actually harder to get a photo like this than might be expected...

bluets, also known as Quaker Ladies....

dogwoods IN the woods, and along the edge of fields

Every year I look forward to when this section of Mauk Ridge looks like this.

special sight, early morning, this time of year, along my road

now some photos from a visit in Winchester, Kentucky, in 2019

evidence of the wondrous way the blooms emerge from the branches

            I may add a photo or two in the next few days, but for now this is my testament to a tree that grows where it wants to, often on the edge, an old friend who shows up to announce spring. I appreciate their showy selves this year particularly, when so much sadness and confusion greets us each day. I trust we all have the perseverance to do like a tree, to try over and over and again to do the best we can.

expressing thanks in the moment

post #485
          I give thanks for this lovely spring, for my extended family, for friends, neighbors, my Quaker community, long ago college classmates, and for my curiosity gene and trusting heart. I want to keep things simple today, partly as a way to express those thanks, and partly just because it feels like the proper response to a world having to reexamine itself. 
        Just for the record, I don't think not having a church service -- for the sake of the health of other people -- is a strike against religion. Instead it feels to me like a gesture of solidarity with the human race, making things safer and holier for everyone, assuring there will be less lives lost. In this circumstance, I am very pro-life.

         OK, first a celebration of a favorite tree, the redbud.  This year they have been quite their wondrous selves.  Here are a few recent photos; I have others from earlier years, but that's for another time. They are early harbingers of the fuller spring beauty to come.

along route 504

        I also want to acknowledge the ongoing remarkable response across the nation to the enormous effort happening all around us. Thank you everyone who's working so hard in the face of the Covid19.  This reality is far from finished, and the need for continued patience is huge. I have a subscription to the New Yorker magazine, and I'm sharing last week's cover -- an image that speaks loudly and clearly.  Also thank you everyone who's going along with #SafeAtHome.  It's all about one day at a time.

a TV screen shot from our Governor's daily report, sharing compassion and clarity - again so many of us thank him for his reliable truth telling.

I did go 4 miles from home today for Easter dinner -- I brought my own table, chair, table cloth and silverware!  I enjoyed dining in the carport with my three local family members before returning home. They ate before I came and then sat on the back of the pickup during our short visit.  

I SO LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN I CAN HUG MY FAMILY and FRIENDS AGAIN.

T. drew me the hug bug I had requested a few days ago!

A recent moment at my pond, and I do believe there's a fish in it! I also find ripples a vivid reminder of how what we each do goes so far beyond ourselves.  Again, a topic for another time. Enjoy.

pausing for a poem

post #484
      For making sense of these serious, shifting and unsettled times, it definitely helps to have writing friends who use their words to respond to what goes on around us.  I'm fortunate to share in the poems, essays, songs, novels, memoirs, and fiction manuscripts from the monthly writer's group I've been part of for over 25 years. We stay surprised, grateful for the work that surfaces in this supportive milieu. In addition, we rely on each other's perspectives about anything.
      A recent poem George Ella Lyon shared with all of us gave me the idea to feature it on my blog, with a few photos of mine that could have a connection. I next hoped the other five of us would share some words over the next weeks or months. I'd like to add photos when it works to do so. I look forward to seeing what we come up with! 

      When George Ella recently sent us all this poem, she included a short paragraph with it, which follows:
          Thank you [all] so much for responding to my poem in such a deep & thoughtful way. I wrote it in the early fall of 2008 when I was at the Mary Anderson Center as that financial crisis was unfolding. I was concerned, of course, but I had a meadow, abloom with fall flowers, to walk in. I had the birds, the butterflies & dragonflies, the lake, the woods. I experienced such presence and consolation. Ever since then I've had that meadow in my heart to return to. 
          May we all have such places. May we honor them & each other.

THE MEADOW DOES NOT KNOW
about the stock market.
Today she is worth
exactly what she was worth
yesterday, a year ago, at creation.                            

I don’t mean property value,
taxable assets. I mean
milkweed and copper moths
honeybees, cow vetch,
king snakes. Meadow life
is not money. What rises
and falls here are stems
and flowers, leaves and fruit.
No zigzag line of profit and panic
but the great wheel turning.
Here God gives of her
extravagance and here, like
flicker, viceroy, dragonfly
we come into our inheritance.


  

                     
                George Ella, thank you.

renewal season during these serious times

post #483
        What I planned to do was to go out today and share new flowers and/or trees in bloom. I was trying to speak to how we have more reason than ever to live in the present. Deal with the day we're in. Pay attention to what are the important things to do and acknowledge our immediate priorities.

        But it has been super windy all day long. This does not make for good photography. So I chose to improvise by choosing photos I have from every year for the end of March -- give or take a day or two from March 29.  I became very curious about what I would discover.

        It so happens that out of the last 10 years, two of them had a lot of snow at this time!  (2018 and 2014)  Two other times I was away, once in Massachusetts with our daughter and her family, and once in England to visit my stepmother there. Also I've gone ahead and included a photo of the extreme wet we experienced in 2015, and some sheep that I loved being with while in Massachusetts.  Part of living well in the present is to go along with the flow, right?

      SO, here's some random photos never necessarily ever meant to be grouped together.

2009  X 2:

earlier photo of the legacy steps

2010   
 

crocus near the house

These used to grow in abundance, close to the house.

Bluets, or Quaker ladies, not out this year yet

 2012:

a good year for daffodils and for growing a granddaughter....

trillium, not yet in bloom but still lovely

2014:

bird feeding evidence

my neighbor, June, on her 80th birthday

big year for turkey visitors -- no dog around the house at this time

 2015:

flood waters at the Forks of the Caney, in Elliott County

very early redbuds

tiny first flowers in the woods -- name to be added as soon as i am absolutely sure of it

        I'll be working more on this post tomorrow, but at this very moment, it's time to call it a day. I'd like to dedicate today's effort to the many members of my Friends Team with whom I talk often, when I can, and who keep me honest and laugh at my jokes. Sometimes I actually forget that I am currently here by myself all the time and trying to do what Andy tells me.  (I guess I should consider our Kentucky Governor as part of my support network!)  May we be a better nation as we become more seasoned, and I hope spring's coming can be a blessing that will nourish each of us. 

bird break, time for spring flowers

post #482
          More visiting birds next week, but today spring is wanting a turn.  I have some photos from this week, and several friends and family have sent me photos as well. So here are some of these. In a truly difficult time of "never before" we can be warmed by the always happening, this year, next year and again.

in my yard

in Tom and Molly's yard

I remember the house that 40 years ago was at the top of these steps. Now, every year,  these beauties are what happens.  My name for this photo, with George Ella Lyon's help, is LEGACY.  It's located on the way to town; it's a tradition.

             Three photos from my daughter, Rebecca:

peonies rushing to push back out of the earth

Maybe every dogwood tree deserves an actual companion dog....

        Friends Leatha and Will took a drive today to go see the blooms in the Lexington Cemetery, and they were kind to share some of its loveliness.

      Now a spring photo from England, by Sarah Fletcher, who shared this photo on Instagram today. I love the front sheep, posing, and the back steeple, with all that munching going on in between!  Always good to see so much blue sky over there,....

Saintbury Church in Willersey

Though these also aren't flowers, this photo continues to intrigue me. It's a drive-by on my way home from the grocery store. I call this the neighborhood deli, with four smart ass diners....

     
          To end today's hiatus, I'd like to give a shout-out to our wet-behind-the-ears governor who has been so impressive as he manages to set a tone of compassion and caring and perseverance to all Kentuckians, regardless of their politics. He is truthful, reliable, sensible, and direct about why he has made decisions that might at first seem daunting to his constituents.  Every day at 5 pm he has been showing what real leadership can be. It has been awhile since we've experienced that, so many of us are particularly grateful for his presence.  Thank you Gov. Andy Beshear!!!

serious times

post #481
           Wonderful "gathering" of our writers group this afternoon, using Face Time on our iPhones. 
          I'm grateful of course for this important part of my life -- monthly meetings, more or less, and twenty some years, more or less, all kinds of writing and wisdom.  So it's nice that today's new way of gathering shows we can still amaze ourselves.
          My Quaker Meeting met today with Zoom, but I didn't get to "go." I can handle only so much new Tech at a time.
          Of course the reason for our trying this out was because of the emergency the world is currently experiencing. I am sorry for all the suffering this new coronavirus is causing. Then I read about people who aren't taking this seriously, and I am stunned. Their denials make it that much harder to slow down the pandemic. Their selfish ignorance can be dangerous. Doesn't the pro-life stance so many people proclaim include our neighbors and friends? To show love for medically trained people, who will be there to help, stay away from groups, wash your hands a lot, and be part of this worldwide effort.  Believe that we have a couple of months ahead of life turned upside down. We all need to do the hard work of staying out of the way and supporting each other as we move through and past this enormous challenge..

Here are some more of my birds -- with my imagined words in their brains.

Alert, everyone, danger ahead!

How do I know which way to go, what needs doing the most?!!!

Stay calm, everybody, take one berry at a time.

I want IN, I want to help, I want to know what's going on!

Is this what they mean by "social distancing"????

 I'm back again to be a lookout for the next grouping coming in for care.

I don't care what happens to any other bird, I just want to do life my way. So there!

Just trying to get an overview of the big picture of the chaos all around.

We robins know how to hang together and help each other out.

We don't always understand what's required of us, but can't we learn to rise to the occasion?