Sunday, July 31, 2011

Hollyhocks




I have been so excited about
The hollyhocks that were planted
Along the side of the house.
I saw the last of them in the fall
And I smiled with glee.
I've tried to grow them before
And both of my neighbors too,
But to no avail.
Here, it looked like I could.

The stems were the first to show
Their green early this spring.
Quickly they grew tall and bushy
With their lovely large leaves.
And the flower buds became many.

Each day I have been checking
Are they here yet?
Are they here,
These favorite flowers of mine.
And yesterday,
When I was not expecting it
There, under a leaf, was the first pink bloom.
And today, two more may open.

Sometimes it surprises me
How much joy 
Such a small thing can bring.
I think I'll go out and check them again.
(Yes, two more have opened.)

Friday, July 29, 2011

How Firewood

And this is how
Firewood is delivered
In our little town.
Oh, the work ahead.


Saturday, July 23, 2011

Sierraville Safari

Who knew that in the middle of our valley is a hidden treasure, water and wildlife wetlands.  We put our kayaks in where the channel meets the river and headed upstream.  Dragonflies, full of color, little helicopters joined us at the beginning of our voyage, hundreds of them.  We first rounded the bend and looking back could see from behind the bridge, the cars on the road and the small town.  Soon though, the channel winds.  A dog barked in the background and Tom saw a herd of goats, munching on the grass.  Here then,we ceased to look back, only forward to what might lay ahead.  After another curve, we spotted a herd of sheep grazing.  And then, except for the mountains that encircled, skewed only by a new and different vantage point, we left our world and entered something new and hidden and distant, a secret, we thought, not visible from anywhere else in the valley.

The channel narrowed, the reeds grew higher, the grasses turned greener and the lily pads with their yellow flowers were abundant.  Then the frogs started jumping in and out of the water and the ibis took off, straight up with their long beaks and feet dangling and then moving forward.  The thunderous sound of geese taking flight made us stop and pause.  As stealth-like as we tried to be, we could not fool all of the creatures, but the two white pelicans stayed in place for what seemed a long time and then we watched their large wings move them into flight too.  Everything seemed distant and almost prehistoric, yet within reach.

The sound and smell and feel, was of the jungle and we took in more wildlife than we have previously seen at one time.  Quietly we moved along, trying not to disturb.  Soon the grass was so thick in places that the water nearly disappeared from view.  We kept paddling and the channel underneath us carried as forward as we paddled through the grass with not much more than our heads visible to each other.  Soon we were back in the water again and the way widened. 

Which way to go?  Dead ends seemed to be all around us.  Right or left, east or west.  We had a destination in mind, but no real understanding about how long it would take to get to the steel bridge, the one in the middle of the valley, or if we could do it.  We veered left and found water.  We paddled through an old open dam where the current made it tough to pass through, hit points where the water was shallow so that we had to skooch to push through it, passed under now unused train tracks, but mostly we saw nothing that reminded us of who we are, what we have and what surrounded us.


It was a day to disappear, to sit almost still, to absorb it in and my mind and my imagination drifted between, thinking ourselves as Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in 'The African Queen', and based on the cloth-like remnants in the tall reeds, of those in another time, who were not so fortunate as us on this very great and important escape.  And then my thoughts would skip again as I saw my husband and smiled and remembered that these are the kind of adventures that gave me no option but to fall in love with him.  And then I moved to awe as I watched the birds fly overhead, the frogs jump and the lovely flowers and continue to be amazed at the beauty God created and the seemingly untouched landscape.

And then I experience all of these feelings again when we turn around, realizing our destination is not to be reached today and we find (thanks to Tom's GPS) that we have gotten lost within moments, that we are on another channel, destination unknown.  We are thankful for our technology and add navigation into the challenge, the compass to get us out of our deep and dangerous predicament (or just plain back in the direction we wanted to go).

Soon we arrive safely back, under the bridge.  Our simple kayaking morning having turned into a lovely adventure.  Now, on the days when we are itching to get out of town, but have no plans in mind, we can transport in our dreams or in our kayaks to our safari day in July and we look forward to the trip again (maybe next weekend).  Join us, if you dare.

Thanks, Tom for taking the pictures.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Days I Might Love the Best

For all of my love
Of travel and people
And cultures
Very far from home

Some of the days
That I love best
Are spent in our kitchen
And a bit in our garden
And then the bounty
And the beauty
Shared with each other
And often with friends.

These are the days
That I rest and recover
That allow me to dream,
To prepare
My heart and my mind
For other days
Spent away from here.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream
The first of the season
Is ready now to be churned.

Fresh eggs,
Lots of cream,
Some milk too,
Vanilla beans
And sugar

I was thinking the only thing
Better than making it
Is eating it

But now I am thinking the only
Thing better than
Just eating it
Is to share it with friends

And to top it off
We will eat it outside
On this fine summer day
With fresh berries.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

That's Life

I thought it would be easy
This dog number three
And it seemed the right
Thing to do.

She ran up to me with glee
Rolled over and wanted petting.
She waited at our door
Seemingly knowing when
Steve was coming to dinner.

She laid on our stairs,
Just at the bend
And in the dining room
In the corner.

And she frolicked
In the snow
And caught bugs in the air.
And ran and chased
And played.

No problem
This number three.

And now we have a pup
Who is so very sad
Some days are good
And on others she wants
To be left alone
To grieve.

We thought it was getting better
And now it is worse again.

Doing what we thought
Was right
And really
What we wanted to do
Is not as easy
As we had planned.

Sometimes that's just
The way it goes.

And we will see now
Skeena Pipo Benner girl
What we can do
To help.

Let's go now for a walk
And a bird chase
And a run.
Good for both of us
I think.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

I Have Been Feeling Guilty

I have been feeling guilty
For writing
Not so very much
More like
Not at all
But the summer days have come

And the wild roses are blooming
All along the road
And the hay is being mowed
In the fields across the way
And company has come
And there is hiking to do
And the hammock calls
And all that is happening
Is inspiring me to be outside
In the garden
That I am quite loving
And when inside to be
Baking for the visitors
That summer always beckons

And I have been away from
Paper and pen
And my computer and keyboard

Now, I think
I am ready to return
Because I like it so
But still to enjoy the full days
Of summer.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Not Quite Heroes

This morning on our run
Skeena, Summit, Andy and I
Helped a rancher
Corral an escaped cow
From off the road
And while we are not heroes
We think we're pretty close.