It Tried...So Can I

   My 4am awakening seemed unduly dark.  While that is still long before dawn and should be dark, it was almost unnervingly dark this morning.  Still, I arose, did the usual (required) stretches and exercises, made coffee and settled in with biscuits and marmalade.  Bat (the cat) and I enjoy our quiet time before the rest of the world shakes out of bed.  After doing the initial morning chores of laundry and mopping floors, our free time began!  He and I headed to the pier then back to the gardens for a while.  I gardened while the cat did cat things.  It was still dark even though by now the sun should have been up and shining.  Perhaps it was still in bed with everyone else.

  Along about midmorning, a sudden shower caught me off guard.  The compost that I was hauling had to wait for a bit to be strewn around the cabbages as Bat and I made a hasty retreat into the greenhouse!  There we sat among the assorted tropical plants and frogs!  Oh, so many frogs have found a haven in the warm, humid greenhouse.  The shower ended so it was time to continue helping the cabbages grow.  This lasted until about noon when I noticed a glint of sunshine trying to break through the clouds.  Oh, how neat that the sun appeared to be cradled in the branches of the hickory tree!  Yep, that was cause for the camera to come out regardless of the often drizzly rain.  If the sun could try, so could I.

  My day was spent trying to replenish the gardens between rains.  Bat and I spent so much time in that greenhouse that I feel I should install a coffee pot out there!  That darkness of the predawn did not brighten much throughout the day.  Then, it made a full-blown appearance again at 4pm.  That signaled quitting time.  Now it was time for a cup of tea and some cat snuggles.  All in all...a perfect day.

Wildflowers, Momie and Memories

   So the yard work continues as I have decided to rework the entire thing.  Perhaps spending so much time confined to the Small Gardens while I healed has made me grow weary of the hodgepodge arrangement.  I am now doing a much more (not) organized hodgepodge arrangement.  Seriously, my gardens will never be tidy and well-manicured.  Personally, when I see yards like that, I cannot help but think of how bored I would be.  I need the surprise of what may be just around the next corner.  So, I am busying myself creating "corners". 

  While putting the finishing touches on a weird piece of yard art made from hurricane donated wood, I was pleasantly surprised to see tiny wood sorrel blooms peeking out from beneath the chives.   While most folks see these as weeds, I find their unique way of popping up in unexpected places quite appealing.  Wood sorrel was one of Mark's grandmother's favorite flowers and she kept a large concrete urn of them on her tiny porch.  Even though she never did a thing to care for them since she was unable to venture outside, they bloomed profusely all spring and summer.  Whenever I would take the kids to visit her, she would always mention her lovely flowers.  

  It is sort of funny how things stick with you and memories come hopping out with a simple view.  The wood sorrel blooms brought a flood of memories of happy times spent with "Momie".  She and I got along famously perhaps due to our love of simple things.  I sure miss her.  Thank you, sweet little wildflowers for brightening my day with happy memories.

The Crowded "City"

  I like living where and how I do.  For most folks, this life would probably seem hard compared to the standards of today's society.  I do things "the old way".  It suits me.  I grow most of our food and can it for use during the winter months.  We catch fish, shrimp and crabs to go along with the fruits and vegetables.  The old cast iron wood stoves supply our heat during the winter and open windows cool the house during the summer. I am happy living on the Bayou.  I would not fare well in the city.  I get agitated with the hustle and bustle of things and love the quietude of the Bayou and woods.  I love hearing the frogs and toads singing their nightly serenades, the owls calling back and forth from the tall pines and the mullet splashing in the calm waters.  I love finding baby rabbits under the brush piles, large alligators sunning on the mudflats and even the raccoons raiding the muscadines.  I like waking before dawn to watch the sun rise up over the pines and sitting on the pier in the evening to watch it set again.  I like the smells of the Bayou..the magnolias, jasmine and wild honeysuckle, the orange blossoms and peach blossoms, the lemongrass as it wafts in the breeze and, yes, even the "low tide" smell that some find offensive.  I just belong here.

  I sat thinking about this, today, as I watched life in a different big, crowded "city".  While working in the gardens, I moved a container that held bell pepper plants.  Under the pot, in a space about one square foot, an entire city of critters had made their homes.  In fact, even after some scampered to parts unknown, I counted six spiders, fourteen pill bugs, eleven snails, one centipede and about a dozen tiny ants.  They were so crowded that the critters were literally crawling all over each other. The spiders were stalking the pill bugs, the ants were biting the snails, the centipede would have made short work of the spiders.  Each seemed oblivious to the other's feelings which made me ponder if that is how it is in large human cities.  I hope not.  I'd like to think that we all can show kindness to everyone but, then again, I live in my own little world down here and do not have to deal with any hullabaloo from others. Yep, I like it...it suits me just fine.


 

Simple things...

Have you ever pondered just how lovely simplicity is?  I am beginning to believe there is a lot of truth in that old adage "Simpler is better."  I was out meandering about the hillside when Ms. Ez decided to gallop off after a squirrel.  Lickety-split she headed around back of the house!  Well, I guess my hike needed to change directions and head north instead of down the pier.  I had to go find that dog before she wound up in the next county!  Once I was around back, I noticed that the sun was trying to break through the clouds and send a few beams of light down upon the garden.  The hedgerow of blackberries looked a mess!  I really need to get out there and do some trimming!  I have hesitated in doing this as the birds take refuge in the briers.  It is there that they can feel safe from the critters that would stalk them each night.  Smart birds!  At least, that was my excuse for the hedgerow looking as messy as it did!  I was helping the birds!

As I tried to coax Ezzy away from the treed squirrel, a bright flicker caught my eye. Something red and green literally glowed in the elusive sunbeam!  I was pleasantly surprised to find a single leaf still hanging on to the blackberry vines.  How ironic was it that the single sunbeam hit a single leaf?   Simplicity at its best!  A thing of beauty entirely because of this simplicity!  I thought of my procrastination regarding the trimming of the hedgerow.  It was that procrastination that had given me the opportunity to be awed by a leaf! It was that awe that made me smile.  It was that smile that made me realize that I had found delight in simplicity.  And..it was that simplicity that made it all worth while. Yep, simpler is better!