Tales from my Garden: 2016

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Delightful December

Last night the snow fell.

Scampering around like a family of frantic field mice,

we pulled shovels from the back of the shed,

removed forgotten items from the yard

and added twenty minutes extra to

tomorrow's travel plans

to deal with the

"weather."

After everything was done,

I stayed to watch the snow coat the branches of the trees

until they were as beautiful as a freshly iced cake.

The plunging temperatures caused some

to pull up the collars of their coats

and stamp an annoyed dance

onto the icy ground with their heavy boots.

I chose to watch

the golden light spill from the windows

of the houses onto our street.

It looked so cozy;
all these families gathered for a hot evening meal,

while their humming furnaces
sent soft plumes of smoke

into the darkening sky.

This frozen, wet stuff...

It's just rain, really.

Is it more annoying

because it's going to stick and stay?

Surely snowflakes

are a form of enchantment;

falling, frozen stars,

light as air,

each one sculpted, unique, miraculous.

They gather here and there

with an artist's flourish

and make something new from what was old.

Or, they melt and freeze again,

allowing us glimpses into other worlds

that only winter can help us find.

Whichever way you choose

to view it,

I welcome the snow

and all its wonder.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

I was in shock, like much of the world, to discover that he won the election. I mean how in the name of all that is good, sane, decent, civilized, honest, intelligent and human did this happen? Especially at a time when our floating blue and green planet needs our care and protection the most.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depends how you look at it) I was in an unusual situation when I heard the election results.

I was hooked up to several monitors in the intensive cardiac care unit in one of our city’s most wonderful hospitals while doctors searched to find the source for the “heart attack” I appeared to have suffered last Saturday night.

Yes, this was before the election results

so I can’t blame Donald for that!

Luckily, strangely (just like life) the enzymes in the blood test that declared with almost certainty that my heart had suffered a traumatic event and been injured were proved wrong by the best tests science has to offer.

Five days later, on a sunny Wednesday afternoon
I walked out of the hospital, heart-healthy and free!

The first thing that struck me, waiting outside to be picked up by my children, was how blue the sky was. A crisp November breeze rushed up to fill my lungs and the setting sun caressed my cheek with a mother’s love.

This world is so beautiful.

I wanted to skip, jump, sing, dance.

I was healthy!

I was home.

I was loved.

My husband never left my side in the hospital (sleeping the first 2 days in a chair, and the rest in a cot) and my children spoiled me each day with their time, homemade meals, fresh clothes, board games and stories.

My epiphany: Donald Trump’s win changes nothing.

The world existed before him and the world will exist after him
because there are billions of people who know and cherish
what really matters...

* LOVE *

Family, friends, health, home, nature, the sun, moon and sky.

At home, looking out my kitchen window, it felt like I’d never left, never been terrified for my heart, my life. I watched the giant yellow maple in our backyard shower the ground with its sunshine-yellow leaves…

With everything that had just happened to me I followed the urge to be there, right under it, head turned up to watch the leaves
dance through the air on their way to the ground,
to be part of that beauty.