Sunset over Québec fields, Earth Day 2007.
The earth showed us a lot to love today: rivers overflowing with spring runoff, and ducks upended in the flooded pools; the first shad trees blooming white against the dark mountainsides; delicate traceries of gold willow branches; the first plowed fields; grass greening on southern hillsides; the awkward flight of a turkey and the graceful flyover of a low wedge of geese; a deer and her fawn bounding through the edge of the forest; Lake Champlain shining like mercury around her long delicate islands; and this sunset.
I spent a lot of the weekend outdoors working in my Vermont garden, raking leaves, and helping J. burn brush in our annual fire-department-approved bonfire. My work was accompanied by the warm sun, and more birds than I could count, from juncoes to redwing blackbirds to sparrows and cardinals and goldfinches, to the pileated woodpecker making a special cameo appearance. It would be hard to describe how much good this did me - I feel better than I have in weeks and weeks.
I'm a firm believer in the spiritual and physical restorative powers of gardening! I'm so glad spring finally arrived and that you are feeling so much better, Beth! Our days here have been getting drier and warmer and the gardens are glorious, my favourite season.
Posted by: marja-leena | April 22, 2007 at 11:45 PM
Lovely, and beautifully described, Beth.
I spent all yesterday afternoon in the park. The cherry trees had all developed "wardrobe malfunction" and their thousands of pinkish white buds spilled out. I contemplated a calm symmetrical oak waiting its turn. Many friends came by, including E. (from Verbal Privilege). The park was full of people: softball players, couples (who were not unaffected by earth's urges), solitaries with books, the baby brigade. A father was playing ball with his four-year-old and kept calling out to her, "Anna! Anna!" My wife lay close by reading "Anna Karenina."
At one point, I was flat on my back looking straight up at the bowl of the sky. The sounds of the human world fell away from me at all sides. The sky was powder-blue, depthless, with a feathery wisp of the new moon visible, and a silent contrail coming off it like a tangent.
Posted by: Teju | April 23, 2007 at 09:08 AM
Well, the first thing I really did once I got off the plane from Colorado Springs yesterday was get out and dig -- mostly to take advantage of the softened earth from the rain we got while we were away, but Oh how much better I felt afterwards. And during.
Posted by: Pica | April 23, 2007 at 09:14 AM
It rained most of the day here in NW Iowa. After mass we went to a Mexican restaurant that has recently changed hands. I had been thinking about ordering the shrimp coctail but since it was cloudy and rainy that did not seem right. So I ordered a large steaming bowl of barbacoa made with beef and chile pasilla. My wife ordered the bionic soup(full of beef, tongue, cheek and brains). When the rain stopped in the evening we went for a nice long walk. Lots of kids in the park. It was as if they were trying to make up for the time that they lost due to the rain.
Posted by: Fred Garber | April 23, 2007 at 10:32 AM
I second Marja-Leena's comments, having spent the weekend lost in my own garden here in France. It is like a botanical-booster and a foliage-fillip, n'est-ce pas?
Posted by: Mouse | April 23, 2007 at 11:40 AM
I am so happy it is spring.
Posted by: Rana | April 23, 2007 at 02:21 PM
Beth, hope you don't mind if I comment on a comment! I looked up "tangent", used at the end of Teju's comment.. It's a touch!
Posted by: Bill | April 23, 2007 at 04:58 PM
Yeah, everyone in the Northeast here seems to have had a nice weekend and still cheerful today. After all that cold and gloom, finally spring. Whether gardening or just getting outside and enjoying the sunshine, it's been very welcome.
Posted by: leslee | April 23, 2007 at 07:39 PM
Indeed!
Posted by: Lucy | April 24, 2007 at 03:12 PM
What a wonderful number of things to see in a few days. Nature can be so uplifting and renewing. Spring.
Posted by: CdV | April 24, 2007 at 05:12 PM
I'm so glad.
Posted by: dale | April 26, 2007 at 10:38 AM
I feel better just reading this and looking into that sunset light. Good stuff, even better to actually be there, I'm sure.
Posted by: MB | April 26, 2007 at 04:27 PM