Sunday Garden

A Sunday afternoon, with the sun out
And tempertures lift to the 70's with a shout.
A walk through a garden, where greenhouses and grounds lay
Makes for a perfect day and a perfect way
To spend some time.

Spring rains have lent a lushness to all the plants,
While sunlight causes shadows to slant.
Light plays on the greens, the purples, the gold.
Everything here new, nothing old.
Spring is the real start of a new year.

Rainy Start

Such a rainy way to the start of May,

With a drizzly, grizzly gray day.

After weeks of brightness from the sun

We knew such a day had to come

To fatten up the buds.

Trees are green and full of leaves.

Grass is growing and flowers no longer tease

But have burst into full color.

Between warmth, sun and rain duller

Is banished.

New Days

Days are lengthening, and the sun

Reaches higher into the sky.  We are done

With early nightfalls.  The sky lightens

And below the earth brightens

with spring flowers.

Gone are the grays that blurred our eyes.

Now pinks and purples and yellow flies

Across our landscapes.  Bulbs have grown

Through the warm earth and shown

Us the renewal of spring.

Winter's Bone

I read this as a library loaned Kindle book, often sitting with my Blackberry in coffee cafes to catch up.

And it is the sort of book a reader wants to catch up with. The heroine, Ree Dolly, young as she is, is as tough as any Clint Eastwood character. She's left in a hard place when her father goes missing after putting up the family home as bond.

The setting is the Ozarks, and for an East Coast urbanite like myself, it could be a foreign country. The area and the culture are vividly described. The characters and their code of living come from a different time as well as place. The story of Ree dealing with keeping her small family together and the code of silence surrounding her is astounding. She's "just" a teenager, but tougher than many of the flinty people in the communities around her. This toughness is what wins the respect of her neighbors, and she is able to overcome the obstacles put in her path.

The Ozarks are displayed as a place where the law is the enemy, where meth is cooked instead of moonshine, where a name can mark the path a boy will take for his manhood. And God help you if you're female.

This book is a wonderful balance of character and plot development. I highly recommend it.

Rainy Old Day

Pitter patter, pitter, patter,
I hear from upstairs the tap of tiny feet.
Spitter, splatter, spitter, splatter,
The rain ouside my window makes my den a treat.
It's inside for me today.

Gray, cold, raw sky greets me when I look
Out my window.  It's a day for inside pursuits.
A sputtering candle and a choice of book
To read.  While upstairs small feet are thrust into boots.
Outside is new and beckoning.

Tumbling into Friendship -- Part One

On a sleepy Saturday with snow
Slipping through the air without touching the ground,
Herry skidded down the lane
Not making a sound.

A creature different from you or I,
Herry was a hairy thing, bright sky blue.
His days were full of hurrying
Giving each task its due.

Checking off the lists he made
Every morning with zeal.
Never bothering to savor anything
Even a tasty meal.

This morning proved different
From other mornings past.
Herry skidded, slipped
And almost made one giant step his last.

For that day at least.
He lay in the lane in a jumble,
Called loudly to his neighbors
"Help, I've had a tumble!"

Herry's neighbors peeked out windows
Looking through the fallen snow.
No quite sure what to do
Because Herry they did not know.

They always saw him bustling
With never time to stop and greet.
This change in routine, this tumble
Might force someone him to meet.

One brave and tiny Tunny creaked open her door.
She peeked and saw poor Herry slumped
All across the lane.
Tunny gathered up her courage and up to Herry bumped.

"Hey, you," she said, not even knowing his name.
"You're blocking all the traffic, can you move,
Are you lame?"  "Help me!" demanded Herry.
"Help you!" Tunny replied.  "Why you've made your own groove."

Together they slipped and slithered and settled
In Tunny's tiny house.
Ice applied to ankle, tea applied to mouth;
While in a corner eating crumbs sat a little mouse.

"Who are you?" asked Herrry.  "I have lived here all my life."
"So have I," replied Tunny.  "And I've seen you
Bustling back and forth.  Eyes on the lane,
Not on the neighbors, nor on the view."

Tumbling into Friendship -- Part Two

"We have all wondered what all about you."
Herry sat, and sipped, then said, "I have been
Busy with my business.  I have contacts worldwide.
My life is so hectic, all I hear is din."

Tiny Tunny, curly haired and sprite,
Brought out more cookies.  "But we're right here,"
She said, "Neighbors and would be friends.
Stop a moment, sit awhile, left life become clear."

So Herry and Tunny passed the afternoon;
Mouse in his corner, listening to the talk.
Between the conversation by the fire, the company and the tea,
Herry's mind stopped its hectic run and slowed to a walk.

Evening came without any check marks on lists.
And when Tunny turned on the lights
Herry found he could again rise and stand.
He stood up tall and hit the heights

Of Tuny's tiny ceiling.  He stretched
And said, "Thank you.  I think you've saved me.
You must come to my home for dinner
For conversation, and for tea."

"What about your lists and contacts?" Tunny asked,
Though through a happy smile.
"They'll wait, they'll wait," said Herry.
"Let me linger awhile."

This tumble on a snowy day, unplanned and upended
Became the start of Herry's friendship
With all his neighbors.  Although he started late
He found his most inportant travels had started with a trip.