Contemplating Beauty

It is a wholesome and necessary thing

for us to turn again to the earth
and in the contemplation of her beauties
to know of wonder and humility.

Rachel Carson

Of Note: On April 11th, we had a blizzard, and these steps were covered in snow. Now ten days later, spring is back. The first crocus is up in the lowest flower bed to the right of the stairs. It is yellow and only 2 or 3 inches tall and such a welcome sight! This morning, I dragged the downed maple tree in the lower right off into the woods. It was cracked into little pieces so was not hard to do. My body appreciated being outside even if just for a few minutes before the rain began.

This little deer is one of the two residents, who relish eating my garden. He and I were viewing each other eye to eye through the large kitchen window. These foragers often find the perennials a fine dessert much to my chagrin. They can mow down to the ground a whole flower bed in one night. Argh.

Speaking of animals, one of the more unpleasant features of Spring is the dog poop that is all over the gravel around the house. It dots the landscape until after the first few big showers but we have to watch where we walk until that time. One year I bought "low-emission" dog food thinking that might help the situation. It backfired. There might have been less poop, but it did not disintegrate at all. I ended up collecting four 5-gallon buckets of the stuff with a pooper-scooper! I would have rather been hunting Easter eggs, let me tell you.

Today's Weather Report: Rain and 56 degrees. Enough said. We might get snow tomorrow. No big dump, just flurries. Did anyone tell the Heavenly Powers that Spring is here? Where is CEO God when we need Him? (Just kidding, He's got a lot going on these days, and our little weather situation is not at the top of His list, I'm sure.)