Beautifully put Neko (From a Mainer "up the road a bit")! No Mergansers here (I wish!) but our duck couple from last year are back (I recognize him by the scar across his chest). You'd have thought I won the lottery when I saw them waddling up from the pond last week!
I m just starting to get rhubarb … great with ginger and pomegranate molasses, lemon. Deadhorse Hill had foraged ramps and made them available to folks for $5.00 extra as a side and or I had it mixed into my Japanese breakfast 🍳 that also became dinner later. One orchard near Maynard , MA announced they were going to run big fans tonight - it’s not the sound of a helicopter approaching…. To Try to protect tender young buds, blossoms ….
After 40 years of living in Colorado, I'm moving back to my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. I am planning a new garden. I happened to see your youtube discussion on Sing For Science recently and am inspired to nurture habitat native plants that attract the critters/bugs of the region. Thx
I’m feeling a little trapped at the moment because all the trails by my house have turned to a slushy and muddy mess. I’m trying to appreciate this brief window before everything explodes into green, seemingly overnight, but the muddy dog paws and freshly exposed dog poops that I missed over the winter are making me wish spring would just hurry up. Last night I awoke to the dreaded sound of a dog getting ready to vomit. I rushed the dogs outside and was met with some incredible northern lights. Down below my house I could also hear a saw-whet owl “beep beeping” and two great horned owls. I realized that these are probably some of the last northern lights I’ll see again until fall since we’re gaining so much daylight every day so I took a long look before going back to bed. The songbirds haven’t arrived yet, and some of the bears are out, though I haven’t seen them yet. Last year a set of triplets and a set of twins were born out here in our neighborhood and they hung around all summer. One day both moms and all the babies were out in front of my house. SEVEN brown bears. It was wild. I’m eager to see if everyone made it through the winter. The cubs have excellent mothers so I’m sure they did.
So many lovely pieces of a sparkling mosaic in this one. Glad you get to drink deeply of that.
Loved the counsel:
Keep your noticing eyes open and curious and the human world of strife will hurt a little less. Let the noticing remind you that the cruelty will not stand.
Wisdom, curiosity and loving kindness will get us all where we need to be!
Hopefully United will do their part for me today and get me where I’m eager to be
Just finished a book called "The Comfort of Crows", by Margaret Renkl. In it, she describes the diverse ecosystem in her Tennessee back yard. 52 chapters, 52 weeks, each featuring a full-color artwork from her brother, Billy. I highly recommend it. It's a gorgeously written missive about the struggle, celebration, joy and grief that encapsulates the natural world.
When I read your thoughtful and wonderful writing I am filled with your joy.
I think of Gerad Manly Hopkins a poet whose work although obviously religious is also full of his love for nature, his warning to those who cut and hack "when we mend her, we end her"
What a picture you paint with your words! It’s a cool morning here on the plains, and I relish it since it won’t be too long until our hot summer arrives. Living in a car town with concrete and cars everywhere, I was lucky enough to find a home in an area with lots of natural ponds. Each year one or two pair of geese nest at the edge of the pond outside my front door. Only one pair this spring, but the goslings have made their appearance and we watch from a distance because there is nothing more fierce than geese parents! Ducks come to visit, and the occasional heron stops by to fish. Outside my back door, a row of arborvitae is home to nests of cardinals. Mockingbirds and doves stop by, but we don’t think they’re nesting there. There’s a bird call we have yet to identify or connect with any feathered creature. It’s a mystery for now! We await the returning hummingbirds who love our honeysuckle. We are also on the watch for any teen raccoons who, last year, gave us a little performance outside our patio gate one night. Once they noticed us, their survival instinct kicked in and they scuttled off into the darkness. I envy your natural world, Neko, but I am reminded daily that city wildlife is its own wonder. Here’s to a wonderful season for everyone in The Lung.
Thank you for sharing these wonders! Makes me miss the sound of the spring peepers at night near my family’s Indiana swamp. Even in the city, life finds its way through—the birds sing, and flower rise up from people’s small yards.
This writing had more flavours than my breakfast, it's a sunny day here in the UK, but this took me right there ...
Beautifully put Neko (From a Mainer "up the road a bit")! No Mergansers here (I wish!) but our duck couple from last year are back (I recognize him by the scar across his chest). You'd have thought I won the lottery when I saw them waddling up from the pond last week!
Right?? Having a familiar friend-creature CHOOSE to come back is the greatest compliment we can receive :)
I m just starting to get rhubarb … great with ginger and pomegranate molasses, lemon. Deadhorse Hill had foraged ramps and made them available to folks for $5.00 extra as a side and or I had it mixed into my Japanese breakfast 🍳 that also became dinner later. One orchard near Maynard , MA announced they were going to run big fans tonight - it’s not the sound of a helicopter approaching…. To Try to protect tender young buds, blossoms ….
pomegranate molasses and lemon are great ingredients for a cocktail (alc or non-alc!). I bet rhubarb could be an interesting addition...
Love this post.
After 40 years of living in Colorado, I'm moving back to my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. I am planning a new garden. I happened to see your youtube discussion on Sing For Science recently and am inspired to nurture habitat native plants that attract the critters/bugs of the region. Thx
Snow season, mud season, black fly season, leaf peeper season - VT is always beautiful!!
I’m feeling a little trapped at the moment because all the trails by my house have turned to a slushy and muddy mess. I’m trying to appreciate this brief window before everything explodes into green, seemingly overnight, but the muddy dog paws and freshly exposed dog poops that I missed over the winter are making me wish spring would just hurry up. Last night I awoke to the dreaded sound of a dog getting ready to vomit. I rushed the dogs outside and was met with some incredible northern lights. Down below my house I could also hear a saw-whet owl “beep beeping” and two great horned owls. I realized that these are probably some of the last northern lights I’ll see again until fall since we’re gaining so much daylight every day so I took a long look before going back to bed. The songbirds haven’t arrived yet, and some of the bears are out, though I haven’t seen them yet. Last year a set of triplets and a set of twins were born out here in our neighborhood and they hung around all summer. One day both moms and all the babies were out in front of my house. SEVEN brown bears. It was wild. I’m eager to see if everyone made it through the winter. The cubs have excellent mothers so I’m sure they did.
So many lovely pieces of a sparkling mosaic in this one. Glad you get to drink deeply of that.
Loved the counsel:
Keep your noticing eyes open and curious and the human world of strife will hurt a little less. Let the noticing remind you that the cruelty will not stand.
Wisdom, curiosity and loving kindness will get us all where we need to be!
Hopefully United will do their part for me today and get me where I’m eager to be
love taking a walk with you and your descriptions put me there. thank you
Thank you for your vital and timely post, Neko!
Just finished a book called "The Comfort of Crows", by Margaret Renkl. In it, she describes the diverse ecosystem in her Tennessee back yard. 52 chapters, 52 weeks, each featuring a full-color artwork from her brother, Billy. I highly recommend it. It's a gorgeously written missive about the struggle, celebration, joy and grief that encapsulates the natural world.
When I read your thoughtful and wonderful writing I am filled with your joy.
I think of Gerad Manly Hopkins a poet whose work although obviously religious is also full of his love for nature, his warning to those who cut and hack "when we mend her, we end her"
As we say in Finland (every spring 😅):”New snow is the death of the old one.”
I love reading about your wild life friends ❤️
Two words about spring: baby goats!! ❤️
Our Hosta shoots are ALMOST ready to eat, my favorite early spring treat. My neighbors call Sumacs "shit trees", lol
What a picture you paint with your words! It’s a cool morning here on the plains, and I relish it since it won’t be too long until our hot summer arrives. Living in a car town with concrete and cars everywhere, I was lucky enough to find a home in an area with lots of natural ponds. Each year one or two pair of geese nest at the edge of the pond outside my front door. Only one pair this spring, but the goslings have made their appearance and we watch from a distance because there is nothing more fierce than geese parents! Ducks come to visit, and the occasional heron stops by to fish. Outside my back door, a row of arborvitae is home to nests of cardinals. Mockingbirds and doves stop by, but we don’t think they’re nesting there. There’s a bird call we have yet to identify or connect with any feathered creature. It’s a mystery for now! We await the returning hummingbirds who love our honeysuckle. We are also on the watch for any teen raccoons who, last year, gave us a little performance outside our patio gate one night. Once they noticed us, their survival instinct kicked in and they scuttled off into the darkness. I envy your natural world, Neko, but I am reminded daily that city wildlife is its own wonder. Here’s to a wonderful season for everyone in The Lung.
We're missing Vermont Spring here in Seattle, but you wrote "there" into "here" so well. The frogs of spring!
Thank you for sharing these wonders! Makes me miss the sound of the spring peepers at night near my family’s Indiana swamp. Even in the city, life finds its way through—the birds sing, and flower rise up from people’s small yards.