Day 140

Shimmering grasses after the rain.

Everything was magical in the meadow this morning. The whole field of grass sparkled and shimmered like a city of lights, which seems to be a back-to-front comparison.

My head began singing all the morning songs, and when I got to Morning has broken, the Cat Stevens version, I remembered Jess and Emma singing this for a video to be sent to Granny and Grandpa.  Jess was about 5, and she sang the first three lines perfectly, "Morning has broken... Like the first morning... Blackbird has spoken..." Then, obviously the blackbird channelling Jess,  "Kwa kwa kwa kwa!" and it was never the same song after that!

When we don't know the words of a song, we more than likely sing a version of "tada, tada tada tada, tada tada tada tada, dadadadada" (pink panther) or "nana nana na, nanana nana"(strangers in the night), or "la la la lala, lala lala" (He ain't heavy, he's my brother).   Those are the consonants most commonly used.  I wonder why we don't sing "kakaka ka kakaka ka" or "sa sa sasa sa sa sasa", or "vava vava va vava vava va".

Photographs in my head
A perfectly red butterfly with black spots landing on a perfectly yellow buttercup.
Two carpenter bees having a very heated argument (or dance) as I run past.
The mockingbird sitting very still so that I won't see her.

A very surprised Amelia the female turkey breaking into a run on meeting me three times in different parts of the meadow.
Glowing pools of sunlight on the forest floor.
Lily squinting up at me after she takes her gentle constitutional in the bright sunshiny afternoon.
The piggie with her little innocent black face, waiting, waiting, for someone to feed her, someone to pet her, her whole life spent waiting in that cage, poor thing.  (I will NEVER ever have an animal in a cage again).
And a dear little boy, the 16 month old grandson of my friend, with his soft cheeks and his fat little thighs, sleeping with such complete trust next to his grandmother.





A flower from the rhododendron next to the deck, our "temperature-tree" in the winter.

Beautiful bushes, their buds come out before the winter even begins, pointedly perch on the ends of the branches through the snow and the frost, and then this spectacular bright purple and pink abundance of flowers bursts out at the end of spring.

If bees make honey only from rhododendrons, it is known as "mad honey", and has been used in warfare by generals like Hannibal, because it causes the eater (in this case the soldiers of the army you wish to defeat) to become, very quickly, utterly intoxicated and very ill.  And then the opposing army just swoops in and overwhelms them just like that!

An image from one of my notebooks from last year this time, when I was flying back from England after Emma's 30th birthday.