November 22, 2009
The day bids us adieu in such a dignified and beautiful way. The day’s farewell is expressed in twilight, in the magic of color and beauty. The twilight makes the night welcome. It is as if the beautiful colors of twilight slip into the night and make the night habitable and bearable, a place where there is a hidden light…Twilight perception can be a threshold to invite the shy soul to come closer to you in order to glimpse its beautiful lineaments of longing and possibility.
November 20, 2009
It’s not porch-sitting weather -
too damp and chilly -
even with a blanket.
But neither is it coming-in weather either.
In fact,
it’s stay-out-as-long-as-you-can weather.
Yesterday was sunny and cool
with not a cloud in the sky.
In the splendor of the afternoon,
Ann and I planted seven fruit trees.
The night sky was clear and black,
a jillion stars, sharp and bright.
There was rain in the early hours
and now it is cool
and still, still.
There has been no wind for days,
making these days distinctive
and deliciously inviting.
I notice I dawdle doing the chores,
taking time to do extra things
for the animals,
piddling in the flower beds,
making another trip around to make sure
I put up the flag on the mailbox
when I put letters in it earlier.
It’s just-can’t-get-enough-of-it weather -
the kind of weather,
just to stay outside,
you begin to notice the details:
an unusual fungus in the corral,
Cedars, heavy with berries,
and the mossy trunk of a Hackberry.
Unusual Fungus in the Corral
Cedar, Heavy with Berries
Mossy Hackberry
November 19, 2009
It seems the project-building goes easiest
when we don’t plan.
Yes, we wanted to make a winter pen at the barn for the chickens,
but we hadn’t really set a date to begin.
Ann had bought a roll of hardware cloth
and a gate
and then we went down to the barn
just to “get an idea” of what to do next.
Well, we can take that down.
So we did.
We could put that wire across there.
So we did.
A couple of hours later,
when we reached a stumbling block,
we just stopped.
And today, when Sid came around,
we asked his advice
and he pitched in,
rounding up two-by-fours from here and there,
making do with rusty staples,
destroying old bolt cutters in the process of cutting wire,
but in a couple of hours
the three of us had almost finished the pen.
A little more wire,
some fresh staples,
another couple of hours
and the chickens will have a cozy winter home!
