The rains passed around midnight along with any remnants of fall Thirty degrees below normal this morning Sky so blue it hurts the eyes – and windy Outside the skylight several birds soared. No not birds. leaves – carried above the treetops tossing in the upper currents, while sun glanced off their shapes to complete…
Second Sunday forecast snow. 915 – a tiny flake? another. more . 930 – only barren trees shrouded in a clouded sky. I’d been so – expectant, if only for a moment –and, had already told Maisie. She remembers ‘first snow’ (so long ago) silently falling through the darkness sensing it, barking till we went…
I hear the cicadas buzzing and find their cast-off clothing in the garden Yellowing leaves are stuck to the patio table Summer’s hot breath doesn’t fool Fall is poised right around the corner. Ugh.
The snow must have begun while we were sleeping, for outside the sheerest of veils already stretched from Heaven to earth. Trees and fences softened, and land blurred into water – barely visible geese passed overhead, merged with the mist and disappeared – all, silently and leaving no print on the ground. Yet still they…
Driving into the neighborhood tonight rain lightly falling, two fawns nestled in the common area lingering in the moisture-laden darkness A few curves away two adult deer ran alongside my car for some distance before leaping ‘cross the road and on to the creek The rain finally came grand thunder, lightning, hail (and power outage)…
Earth so dry Beginning to relinquish hold on a landscape slowly losing the struggle to dig deep enough for life sustaining moisture – sprinklers small comfort. Into each heated night, cicadas loose a relentless, high-pitched plea – no relief and dawn arrives – gray as the day before. And yet – yet the strawberry pot…
In winter the blackest of nights cloak the heavens exploding their brilliance Millions of unseen shards fall earthward through the atmosphere – the air so dense, it takes one’s breath away At first light gnarled and scattered waste of seasons past glisten for a moment under last night’s carpet of frost – Soon, all will…
At first a few leaves lay scattered on the ground but by Wednesday whole yards were covered Lawns returned to green only when weekend gardeners shredded and swept the interlopers It is early August, yet the Tulip Poplar doesn’t care Years ago, its broad yellow leaf intrigued me, as reaching between the Manual of Woody…
Life was expectant with spring’s first bud rushed headlong into summer barely paused when Fall rescued us from languid August days. Winter nearing we must linger till morning light to pull on warm clothes slip past sleeping cats and out for our morning walk. No heron or Squirrel – only geese pass overhead, honking snow…
Door closed Maisie bounded from behind the sofa fresh with the scent of winter we measure the days and hours in Maisie time Locked in the moment he shrugged off a scraped and bloodied face – oblique commentary on a parallel universe Mud and grass stains are part of the game – then bundled to…
December had barely finished spelling out its name, yet huge, wet snowflakes silently …
The day’s hot breath lingered forcing fireflies out of the grass. Soundlessly they rose – rising blink-ing rising – pausing in the trees, slowly charting their way ever upward. Occasionally we’d catch one in an old jar, while grownups sat in lawn chairs and chatted. Mostly we just ran around small, thin arms o u…