Lessons from Nature

The Trees remind us that to fully experience this Life, we need to be firmly rooted in the Soil and reach high to touch the Sky.  Otherwise, we will not survive, nor will we thrive.  I think that is what we came here to do.

Brunch

On this day, we 3 C's shared a lovely brunch with Dave:  Egg Bake with Veggies and fresh wild Chives on top, Garden Salad (no, we don't have lettuce yet, but maybe someday we will be able to have it this early), Yummy Assortment of Fruit (from the freezer), Melanie's Special Herbal Tea Blend just for today (featuring Holy Basil), Cranberry Bread, touch of Slaw (Grated Carrots, Beets and Turnips...at this season one can never have enough color).  Yum.  What a beautiful way to start the day and the new week ahead.

Sunrise

January 24:

This morning, the Sun appeared to rise on the Eastern Horizon at 7:25 am, and it appeared to set at 5:19 pm. We've had this discussion before. Right? The Sun really does not "rise". The rotation of the Earth on her Axis creates an appearance that the "Sun rises" in relationship to the Earth. That's what we Humans in our sophistication call it, but are we ever wrong.

Regardless, the Sun appears to rise a little more to the North on the Eastern horizon every day. That means those of us who are living in the Northern Hemisphere are moving through the Winter Season and approaching Spring and Summer. This Human is grateful, I might add. Each day we have more daylight, which is welcome. And each day, the daylight is advancing a little more than it did the day before. The increasing amount of Sunlight will pick up speed about February 2 when the changes will be increasingly dramatic.

When I look back at my notes on this blog for January 10, I note that the Sun appeared to rise at 7:32 am and appeared to set at 5:03 pm. That's 2 weeks ago. Time from "Sunrise" to "Sunset" for January 10 was 9 hours, 31 minutes, and for today (January 24) is 9 hours, 53 minutes. (Source was WeatherUnderground).

I never cease to be filled with awe about these things. The childlike innocent questions inside me ponder the extraordinary perfection of Creation to move in such ways. I must say that is more comfortable for me to say "Sunrise" and "Sunset" rather than to think that we are rotating on this ball and that ball is moving around the Sun. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it. Nevermind, the Heavens have their perfection of Grace as they too swirl about.

On my journey through Life, it is increasingly apparent to me that the "more I know the less I know". Pondering on such matters is yet another classic case.

Large and Small

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The older I get,

the less I seem to know,

and the more comfortable 

I am with it.

The universe just gets bigger

and I find myself 

the tiniest of specks within.

I yearn to know more.  

But the more I know

the vastness of what cannot be known 

just picks up speed.

I am small.

Infinitely small.

Life is good.

Infinitely good

in more ways 

than I can ever know.

~~~~

Glinda Crawford, 2012

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Revisiting February 2011

"Imbolc" (February 2) marks the time when Nature begins speeding up toward Spring.  Sun is stronger and marks his presence longer each day.  Birds begin wearing colors of Spring Plumage and practicing those beautiful Spring Calls.  Buds on trees and shrubs begin to swell while anticipating the day they will unfurl.  Humans are known to pick up more energy in their steps.  That's just the usual order of things here in the Northern Hemisphere.  I wonder how these things manifest "down south".

The night before Imbolc (February 1) this year, Richard read from his February 2011 calendar.  He keeps great records of what we see and experience right here on the Farm.  The calendar is a posting of what happened last year and what we are likely to see again soon.  While I do not want the "hibernation stage" to end prematurely, I am eager for the next acts of the show.  Here are his notes, with a focus on what we were seeing "in nature":

• 1: Big time blizzard today and tonight, 14 inches of snow, lots of drifting, snow bound for the first time in MO.
• 2: Digging out from blizzard.
• 3: 5 degrees last night, still digging out, birds eating like crazy, Titmice calling peta-peta-peta [spring call].
• 4: A little warmer, Red Breasted Nuthatch still around.
• 6: Shoveled mailbox out, heard my 1st Cardinal "car alarm" this morning [spring call].
• 8: 8 degrees this morning.
• 9: Nothing.
• 12: Several Cardinals now singing.
• 13: Saw 1st Robin.
• 15: 5 Robins in back trees.
• 16: Tree Sparrows gone.
• 17: No fire in wood stove tonight, 65 degrees today.
• 18: 1st Chorus Frog, Flocks of Blackbirds and several flocks (1000+) of Snow Geese got back today, parsnips in basement are beginning to sprout.
• 19: Conditions perfect for Goose and Duck migration, warmer, clear skies.
• 20: 1st territorial Red Wings arrive (by lagoon), more Snow Geese.
• 21: Great Horned Owl screaming in north woods [likely courtship], more Snow Geese.
• 24: Ladd found a skunk last night! 27 Cardinals in backyard today [all males with an equal number of females] [Poor Ladd with his supersensitive sniffer: Skunk smell lingered for months, being "reconstituted" with rains.]
• 25: 6 inches of snow yesterday and last night, still seeing the occasional Tree Sparrow.
• 26: Got a nice Ball Peen Hammer. [I couldn't resist a non-Nature entry.  I suppose I am checking to see if the Reader is still with me.]
• 27: Rain tonight with thunder and lightning.
• 28: 1st Woodcock this evening, Great Horned Owls courting.

Back Tracking

The last few days, we have observed "wavies" of Snow Geese heading west, which is their usual route across these parts on their way toward summer nesting grounds up in the Arctic.  They'll head north from National Wildlife Refuges along the Missouri River across those gorgeous Great Plains. I am smitten by the Great Plains.  I just can't seem to help myself and as I age, I don't even try.

Those "wavies" are lines of Snow Geese weaving in and out with the leader continually changing. They fly high in the sky.  Their beautiful almost ethereal sound just seems to come down and reverberate all around and tease us.  "Where are they?" 

Their migration is early.  Records here on the Farm showed that the movement happened February 18 last year.  I remember "mid-February" as a usual migration time since we have lived here.  I do not know if that is "normal", whatever normal is these days.

Well today, the weather was supposed to shift.  Rain and possible snow were predicted.  A wide spread system was coming to town.  Ahead of the shift, here came the Snow Geese back tracking to wherever they were before.  They were headed due East and they were serious about it too.

I wondered if this was a way that the old timers would forecast weather.  Who knows?  I do know that migration takes a considerable amount of energy.  Richard says that reverse migration is known and he thinks that it would be fairly common among Snow Geese.

We always have stuff to chew on here at the Farm.  Nature just keeps serving it up.  And we have great seats. Every little observation is a lesson in how little that we know and how much we want to know.  Life is grand.

Photos from the Past

These photos taken from 1939-43 touch the pulse of a time which was not so long ago.  I am always enchanted by pictures that help me understand another time, place, and that of the context of people I know and love.  This would have been the time of "young adulthood" of my parents and the period which began the "birthing of their children" (which would be my cohort).

Thank you Denver Post!

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/07/26/captured-america-in-color-from-1939-1943/2363/