Birthing Spring

Spring is having a difficult time arriving this year.  Following a lovely Easter day that was warm enough to be outside sitting on the deck, now sleet is clacking against the windows.  The plants are ready to burst through in full bloom, but still the cold, icy wind and rain persists.  The wild pear is barely unfolding its tiny white buds.  I can almost see them holding together against the cold rain just waiting to unfurl themselves in the warmer spring sun.

Despite the cold and rain, there is just a hint of warmth.  Maybe it is the lengthening daylight or the occasionally warm day, but I can almost feel winter loosening its grip.  Despite the calendar, we are in that shoulder season between winter and spring.  It is a birthing process.  It can't happen all at once.  We have to wait patiently while the earth struggles to renew life itself in warm days, bright flowers, verdant grasses and luscious fruits.  It will come, and in the meantime, I gather the meager spring blooms and put them in a vase as a promise of what is to come.

Sweet September Rain

At last the September rains have come.  After such a long drought, I feared more drought as autumn approaches.  But, gratefully the rain has come.  Even after such deadly heat and such a deep drought, the hard patch of ground that is the back yard has sprung to life.  Water makes all the difference.

With water, the grass greened immediately, and as the rains have continued to come regularly, the crepe myrtle has bloomed.  The penta and salvia have lifted their colorful heads again and are giving a last show of color before the frosts come.  Even the day lilies, which are no longer blooming, are putting up little green shoots of leaves and storing up nourishment before the cold arrives.

The rain has cooled the air, refreshed the earth and the people and relieved the animals who move now with more vigor.  Thank goodness for the rain.  It is beautiful.

Blessed Rain

At last, a real rain!  It has rained off and on all day and the clouds have kept the precious moisture from being sucked up into humidity before it could soak in.

 In all of my life, I have never seen the ground so hard an so dry.  Many trees are dying, and some that have survived are already beginning to get their fall color a month or more early.  That must be their defense against the drought; they just go dormant.  Maybe the September rains will come and quench the earth again. The weatherman says that just since June, we are 11 inches behind our average rainfall.

One of our sons gets his water from a spring on his property, and he has been without water for almost 6 weeks.  He has had the local fire department bring him 2,000 gallons of water to replenish his cisterns and holding tanks.  He is very frugal with his water and saves as much as he can.  Our well is holding up, but we have always tried to never waste water.  We turn off the water when we brush our teeth, and I water the flowers with any left over water from dinner or from the tea pot (after it cools or I pour hot water on weeds around the stone path to kill them).  Water is a precious resource, and it is good to see it rain again.

Too Hot

Everything is wilted.  The pink dogwood is badly burned from the heat and the bald cypress tree is going dormant already. If I don't water twice  a day, the flowers and vegetables hang limp by the end of the day.  This heat is relentless.  When a temperature of 95 degrees feels like a cool spell, something is wrong. 

I've been reading a book about the Dust Bowl, and it describes years of drought and high temperatures and dust storms.  It is a bit scary when I think of the high temperatures and wild fires and drought we are currently experiencing.  I buy my meat from a farmer who raises grass fed beef. She said her pasture is almost gone and the springs on her property that have run for two generations are now dry. There are lots of folks who know more about this than I do, but I just wonder if we need to look at how we are using our land and water resources.  I continue to water my garden and my shade trees, but I will let the grass go brown. I would rather have my vegetables than a green yard.  And I will pray for rain.

Soothing and Reassuring

It's been raining all day.  It's a light rain, the kind one thinks of when one thinks of the weather in Seattle.  It is a beautiful fine mist.  You can stand in it and not realize you are slowly becoming soaked.  You know it is raining, but you don't notice that you are getting wet until suddenly a small rivulet of water begins to run down your collar.

It is the kind of day where staying by the fire and reading is a joy. It is a soft day - soothing and reassuring.  Of course, Grandpa Swift says that his snoring is soothing and reassuring too!  He says that it is reassuring because I know he is alive, and it is soothing because it is steady and constant every night.  I think I prefer the soft patter of rain on the windows.

Spring Rain

There is nothing quite like a spring rain.  The grass turns green before my eyes.  The birds at the feeder this morning are slick and shiny with the cool rain, but they seem to be enjoying the moisture.  They take their time and reflect as they crack the seeds and eat.  The red bud has exploded in color all the more vibrant against the gray sky.  I find myself, cup of tea in hand, watching from the windows.  The illusion of being kept inside can last just a bit longer before I have to venture out umbrella in hand.