Three Thousand Words, or at least the equivalent
Tag Archives: nature
Lake Effect
Memorial Day weekend. Boats wind their way down suburban streets in search of water. Summertime’s officially opened. Here in Wisconsin, there are lots of little lakes and one Big Lake, Lake Michigan. Steve and I found our way to the shore on Friday, where we were taken for the first of the summer traffic. We stopped south of Door County (which is way too commercialized) and met some of the locals in Algoma. Two guys named Tom told us their stories: one owns an antique store, the other is handicapped and zips around town in an electric car that looks like a mini Smart Car with a yellow caution siren on top. Both of them invited us to go visit their barns and have a beer with them later. Unfortunately, we had to drive back to Milwaukee right after our early supper. I can picture us becoming a pair of “colorful locals” some place. Steve, with his long ponytail, and me “au naturale” (meaning without makeup or coif) — we look like aging hippies, I guess. Tom of the electric car has renovated his barn and made part of it a stage for storytelling. He shares this space with local artists. It’s the greatest discovery, he tells us, this “sharing”. It makes his life fulfilling. Here are some photos I have to share:
St. Agnes-by-the-Lake Episcopal Church
Boardwalk…or birdwalk?
Enjoy your local color, everyone!
Growing Up Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Life never ceases to enthrall me. The will to take hold and thrive is powerful. Poor soil can take its toll on some plants, but others seem to do just fine clinging to nothing but rock. I admire the adaptability and tenacity of plant life. No excuses. Grow where you are, or become soil for someone else.
But even tough cedars get sappy sometimes.
Friday Adventure
Steve & I went on a driving excursion today through rural Wisconsin. Today’s post will just be a teaser; I promise there will be more substance when I have more time. We began the day by re-reading W. H. Auden’s poem“In Praise of Limestone”. Little did we know that we would chance upon a cave by a river later that afternoon….
I hope everyone can make some stunning discoveries this weekend! Go out and enjoy the world!
New World Wisconsin
I spent yesterday in the 21st century instead of the 19th, as I wasn’t working at Old World Wisconsin. Here are some photos from my afternoon walk around the neighborhood.
Actually, we do have peonies at OWW, too, but not this color.
Urban cottontail rabbits are much more brazen than the ones out in the country.
The weather is warm and breezy, and begging me to take a nap! We had school tours for 4 solid hours today, meaning that I only stopped talking for 20 minutes during one rotation that only had 2 groups, and then for 30 minutes at lunch. That nap is sounding like a real good idea!
Oh, You Kid!
I spent a lovely afternoon with my daughter yesterday. Despite being in grad school and already a real adult, she still has a wonderfully childlike nature. I was waiting for her in the park on the square, and she managed to park her car and sneak from tree to tree without me noticing her, in order to come up from behind and grab me in an ambush hug. Needless to say, she makes me smile and feel like a kid myself. We wandered over to Aztalan State Park, where the wide open spaces were calling to me. When I was a child, my dad used to take me to the Morton Arboretum. I’d see fields of dandelions and expanses of grass that made me break out into a run, or a gallop, or a skip. I just had to propel myself into the middle of that lush landscape, wishing I were a wild bird so that I could skim over the entire scene. What happened to that energy, that joyous surge? I still feel it in my brain, although the rest of me is greatly slowed down. I invite you to step into this place as if you were 7 years old again….how does it feel to you?
Mid-day Napping
The windows are open; a warm breeze floats through the screen and caresses my cheeks. Sunshine brightens patches of my orange bedsheets and makes a heating pad for my aching back. I feel old today. Probably because I am allowing myself to. Today I do not need to greet visitors with a smile and pleasant conversation. I can curl inward and feel the aches I have acquired in living. I have a living history, too. It involves struggle and fortitude and being foreign… like those German immigrants I talk about at work…though it is very different in its particulars.
The art of self-comforting. Breathing. Slowing down. Searching for health in the interior of being. Acknowledging tender spots. Bathing them in warmth. And perhaps in tears. I feel the love of my children, my husband, and of summer, wafting around me like a vapor of dreams in dappled green light. I hang on by my toes to a branch of substance, and rock myself to sleep.
Death Valley, CA, last April. Photographed on the trail to Darwin Falls.
A Day is a Miracle
Because today was our day off from working at Old World Wisconsin, Steve & I decided to take a walk at Vernon State Wildlife Refuge. This marshy wetland is a favorite place to visit in all the seasons to see the changes in flora and fauna. I think the last time I posted pictures, it was November. Today, it was sunny, 78 degrees and very breezy. The Canada geese had goslings following them everywhere. The Sandhill cranes were nesting. We saw a group of 3 flying in formation. Why three? No idea. We saw lots of red-winged blackbirds pairing up, swallows, American gold finches, a snowy egret and two new ones to me that I had to look up: the yellow-headed blackbird and the rose-breasted grosbeak.
Sitting on the bank of the river looking at the puffy cumulus clouds streaming sunlight through their crisp edges brought me to tears. It seems to me that the world is an absolute miracle, every day, every moment, but usually, the miracle that strikes us is that we finally slowed down long enough to see it. I wonder about how to arrange my life to put more of this experience in. Perhaps the trick is simply to arrange it so that I’m not shutting most of it out.
Scumscape
Enjoy the miracle of life!
Exteriors
Another day at the living history museum under my belt. The new thing I did today was make rhubarb sauce from the gigantic rhubarb plants in the garden. Not that I actually ate any, I just boiled it in water on the wood stove for a few hours so that the smell would permeate the summer kitchen. I didn’t have any sugar at first, so my initial taste was very sour! It reminded me of my mom making rhubarb and custard from the rhubarb in our garden. My mother didn’t garden a lot, so this was impressive to me. I know she helped her parents with a “Victory Garden” during WWII, but she was pretty young. She shops at farmer’s markets and does delicious things with fresh produce, but she doesn’t grow it herself. I’m looking forward to more garden-to-table assignments.
I love that this job allows me to be outside so much. We had thunderclouds overhead for much of the day, but no rain. The humidity was high, but there was a breeze kicking up from the storm front miles away. And I noticed a fishy smell first thing today…I guess with storm conditions you can smell Lake Michigan from 50 miles away?! Unless there’s another explanation. Anyway, I thought I’d share some photos I took of outbuildings and such.
The blacksmith shop with St. Peter’s in the background.
When “nature calls”, you can head for the woods…
…or use the 3-holer out by the garden. Good idea planting the fragrant lilacs right beside it!
As you can tell, I’ve got a fabulous work environment! I’m loving this job. 🙂
Back to Wehr
Steve is working at Old World Wisconsin today, but I’m not. This morning, I had another volunteer stint at the Wehr Nature Center instead. I led three groups of preschoolers on a nature hunt. Each child got a colored pipe cleaner wrapped around his/her wrist, and they kept their eyes peeled for that color on our walk. There were plenty of purple, yellow, white and pink flowers to find.
The little guy with light blue was a bit sad faced until I told him there was lots of that color to be found, but he’d have to look way up high. The clouds had dispersed after a night of thunderstorms, and the sky was a beautiful blue, just like the boy’s eyes. Orange was the most surprising color of all. The first group saw a pair of Baltimore orioles chasing each other. I had seen their teardrop-shaped nest on an earlier walk. The second group saw a butterfly with orange and black wings, probably not a monarch or a viceroy yet, more likely a Red Admiral. With the third group, I wasn’t able to spot either of those things, but then a discarded orange peel caught my eye. Maybe not as exciting, but it was orange. Red came in dark maroon, the prairie trillium and red maple buds. I heard a cardinal but didn’t see him. Black and brown was the mud beneath our feet, the tree trunks and black walnuts. Also the logs in the middle of the lake.
Some of those dark bumps are actually painted turtles. They wear many colors, but they were too far away to see. And of course, green…green….green in every shade, every where, overhead, underfoot, and even under water.
It’s so much fun to get down on a three-year old’s level and go exploring. The world is a wonderful place! Enjoy it today!
scillagrace 