Today, a beautiful day!
Today is cloudless and clear. The air is crisp and when lung-filled, man should want to live forever! The tulips in my garden are growing, having poked through the melting snow some ten days ago. What a delight to see the strawberry plants flourishing and within a couple of months the first delicious berries will be eaten.
I always look forward to the 21st of March and more so to the early days of April when the snow on my garden melts away. During these days, the snow in the forest continues to melt and most of the pathways can not be traveled without leaving them to find ways to get around the water that fills the lower areas on pathways and the many pockets and small ponds off the beaten track. Nonetheless, I walk the woods where I think and pray.
For me, the woods and forests of Canada have always produced a calming and relaxing feeling, inducing a sense of freedom. The life there is one of harmony and balance, one of responding to the light of day, the heat of the sun and the rains that fall from the heavens.
Birds that have not wintered-over are retuning. Flocks of Canada geese started to return two weeks ago, with their loud honking to be heard during the day and during the night. Somehow, the ubiquitous mosquito has returned. The cold nights and cool days have delayed their reawakening but the few are harbingers of the evenings of the near future when some people become driven to borderline frenzies. I think I hear their buzzing now. No, it is but my remembering the sounds and the imminent bite, the suffering and later irritation. This brings back memories of summers in Quebec where the torture of bites during the night must have been created to counter balance the pleasures and delights of the day with the swimming, canoeing, fishing, delicious food, and the glorious hot sun. These memories are from the days of my youth, the many summer days during the long period of the Second World War. Those were the days when mosquito repellants and penicillin did not exist, at least, not for me.
The word penicillin brings back memories of the first time, in the summer of ’48, when an infection caused my leg to swell about the knee to three times its normal size. They say the infection was the result of a scratch received while sliding into second base during a baseball game in New Jersey. I had to go to a hospital in the city of Elizabeth, close to a harbour, where the fog horns seemed to keep me awake all night, when in fact, I could not sleep well, as I could not roll over because of the swollen leg and the some considerable pain that I experienced. I don’t remember any pain killers but I remember well, the size of the needle and the pain in my butt at the time of the injections and later. Three days and three injections; after the first, the next two were not looked forward to with any delight! That needle seemed to me to have been more appropriate for an animal, the size of a horse. I remember as well, my second-time experience with that miracle drug and a much smaller needle. It was during the winter of ’52, when I developed a severe allergic reaction to penicillin, that drug, never to be taken again.
After our last, long and somewhat cold winter, the lengthening daylight during these days of spring is a joy, in and of itself. The warm days of our “short” spring and those of the “short” fall seasons are ideal for long walks. During the “long” summer days, although long walks can be taken, the best times for these are during the early morning or late hours of the day. For me the days for walking long distances are here and I can’t wait to get out doors today for perhaps my last walk in the woods as the final melting of the snow will take place over the next few days, resulting in many flooded areas along most of the trails. After a three or four week period, the many trees of the forests will begin to fill in, grasses will be growing, the snakes and frogs will be out; the snakes to be seen and the frogs to be heard. And, I can't wait for the trilliums to be in bloom in those areas of our land that support their growth.
Yes, today is a beautiful day, a day to be enjoyed, a day for a long walk and a day to be remembered.
Trilliums
Diamonds may be precious,
But more precious to me,
Are trilliums in full bloom,
With many there to see.
Their life span is so short,
As is yours and mine,
Can we be so appreciated,
With lives that are less fine?
Some trillium are pink,
Some trilliums are white,
They all bring forth vitality,
And make our hearts so light.
In the quiet of the forest,
The trilliums all do sound,
In orchestrated fashion,
Of beauty to be found.
What a loss there would be,
If trilliums did not exist,
Our lives so much poorer,
With less beauty in the mist.
© Lou Reeves
I always look forward to the 21st of March and more so to the early days of April when the snow on my garden melts away. During these days, the snow in the forest continues to melt and most of the pathways can not be traveled without leaving them to find ways to get around the water that fills the lower areas on pathways and the many pockets and small ponds off the beaten track. Nonetheless, I walk the woods where I think and pray.
For me, the woods and forests of Canada have always produced a calming and relaxing feeling, inducing a sense of freedom. The life there is one of harmony and balance, one of responding to the light of day, the heat of the sun and the rains that fall from the heavens.
Birds that have not wintered-over are retuning. Flocks of Canada geese started to return two weeks ago, with their loud honking to be heard during the day and during the night. Somehow, the ubiquitous mosquito has returned. The cold nights and cool days have delayed their reawakening but the few are harbingers of the evenings of the near future when some people become driven to borderline frenzies. I think I hear their buzzing now. No, it is but my remembering the sounds and the imminent bite, the suffering and later irritation. This brings back memories of summers in Quebec where the torture of bites during the night must have been created to counter balance the pleasures and delights of the day with the swimming, canoeing, fishing, delicious food, and the glorious hot sun. These memories are from the days of my youth, the many summer days during the long period of the Second World War. Those were the days when mosquito repellants and penicillin did not exist, at least, not for me.
The word penicillin brings back memories of the first time, in the summer of ’48, when an infection caused my leg to swell about the knee to three times its normal size. They say the infection was the result of a scratch received while sliding into second base during a baseball game in New Jersey. I had to go to a hospital in the city of Elizabeth, close to a harbour, where the fog horns seemed to keep me awake all night, when in fact, I could not sleep well, as I could not roll over because of the swollen leg and the some considerable pain that I experienced. I don’t remember any pain killers but I remember well, the size of the needle and the pain in my butt at the time of the injections and later. Three days and three injections; after the first, the next two were not looked forward to with any delight! That needle seemed to me to have been more appropriate for an animal, the size of a horse. I remember as well, my second-time experience with that miracle drug and a much smaller needle. It was during the winter of ’52, when I developed a severe allergic reaction to penicillin, that drug, never to be taken again.
After our last, long and somewhat cold winter, the lengthening daylight during these days of spring is a joy, in and of itself. The warm days of our “short” spring and those of the “short” fall seasons are ideal for long walks. During the “long” summer days, although long walks can be taken, the best times for these are during the early morning or late hours of the day. For me the days for walking long distances are here and I can’t wait to get out doors today for perhaps my last walk in the woods as the final melting of the snow will take place over the next few days, resulting in many flooded areas along most of the trails. After a three or four week period, the many trees of the forests will begin to fill in, grasses will be growing, the snakes and frogs will be out; the snakes to be seen and the frogs to be heard. And, I can't wait for the trilliums to be in bloom in those areas of our land that support their growth.
Yes, today is a beautiful day, a day to be enjoyed, a day for a long walk and a day to be remembered.
Trilliums
Diamonds may be precious,
But more precious to me,
Are trilliums in full bloom,
With many there to see.
Their life span is so short,
As is yours and mine,
Can we be so appreciated,
With lives that are less fine?
Some trillium are pink,
Some trilliums are white,
They all bring forth vitality,
And make our hearts so light.
In the quiet of the forest,
The trilliums all do sound,
In orchestrated fashion,
Of beauty to be found.
What a loss there would be,
If trilliums did not exist,
Our lives so much poorer,
With less beauty in the mist.
© Lou Reeves
posted by croweagle at
8:43 AM
1 Comments:
got a good breath of fresh air, reading your text ! I needed it ! Here, in france, it's springtime too and I can hear right now the birds singing in my garden, on the blooming cherry tree..nature is awakening...if only peace and happiness for the world could awaken the same !
By
Anonymous, at 6:48 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home