That One Red Feather

Year's End
     By Ted Kooser

Now the seasons are closing their files
on each of us, the heavy drawers
full of certificates rolling back
into the tree trunks, a few old papers
flocking away. Someone we loved
has fallen from our thoughts,
making a little glittering, splash
like a bicycle pushed by the breeze.
Otherwise, not much has happened;
we fell in love again, finding
that one red feather on the wind.

2019 in Photos - Jan-Dec

From April 2019 a bonus picture of one of the Ringnecks....because, you know.......




Peace to you in 2020

I've Been For A Walk On A Winter's Day

♪ All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray, I've been for a walk on a winter's day... ♪

On the first day of winter to be exact. At 50+ degrees, it seemed a good time to get in perhaps the last outdoor walk of the year.

We went to Green Valley Lake State Park to see what we could see. Canada geese.

Lots and lots and lots of Canada Geese.

An interesting Red Cedar stump.

Wild turkeys. There were three, but this was my best photo.

And one found feather.

Not a bad day at all for the first day of winter.

Softly Tread

Had I the Heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
          William Butler Yeats

Throw Back Thursday

One of my favourite things about Facebook was 't-b-t' - throw-back-Thursday. It's mostly a t-o-t-p - thing-of-the-past now. But I love old photos and still share t-b-t's now and again. This is the one I shared today:

It is a picture of my brother Ron and me in 1945. I hash-tagged it "big brother and the holding company" as well as "summertime"only because it featured my big brother and me 'holding' a water dipper and it was obviously summer. The Janis Joplin band and song references were just my attempt at being cute. Which obviously I was at circa 18 months, but in regards the 'big brother etc' remark, I meant cute as in a "clever, self-seeking way".

There is much going on in this photo. I am pointing to the fact that I spilled some water - vis-à-vis - obviously the puddle, but also Ron's slightly lifted left foot.

Ron's patched overalls and my too short dress illustrate the need for my parents to "make due with what you have" during the war years. The peeling paint and the boards repairing the bottom of the screen door are also indications of war time scarcities.

I'm quite certain the plant at the bottom of the photo is deadly nightshade. I'm surprised Mom or Dad hadn't pulled it out with two little kids running around the yard. I do remember being told at a very early age how to identify this plant and NEVER eat those little purple berries. But I also remember it still sprouting up in the back yard other times over the years. We were told to pull and discard it when/where ever we found it on the farm.

One thing the picture does not show is a sagging diaper below the hem of my short dress. With another baby due in the fall, I'm sure my mother already had me potty trained. She would not have wanted two little ones in diapers.

The baby sister who usurped my spot on Mom's lap was born on the Autumnal Equinox. She was another tow-head, just like big brother Ron in this photo.

I treasure the black and white photos that illustrate my youth.

Remember

(Nebraska City, 1991)

              Remember
                                           (Christina Rossetti)

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for awhile
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

(December 16 - 16 years without you Mom.) 💔

In the Name of Progress

There is another new path at Lake McKinley which I'm looking forward to walking next spring when I go out with my Nordic poles again.
It is along the west side of the lake so now it is possible to be on a smooth surface except for the gravel roadway across the dam and the short area to the right where it crosses the road here.

The entire west side of the lake looks different than it did just a few years ago. For one thing there's
a whole lot of new homes.

This is one of my favorite photos, one I took in February seven years ago. I was standing further back than when I took the top picture, but it is the same area. They were just beginning to build more houses. I assume the trees were cut to enhance homeowners' views of the lake.

In my opinion, a shame. To paraphrase Robert Frost: I prefer the road less traveled by.