We tore out the old chicken run this weekend. Having lost two flocks of birds to stray dogs is enough reason for that. It’ll be a walk-in run when we’re finished with it—more convenient and secure. I scaled the shed to yank the wisteria that had climbed into the black walnut tree and then peeled it back like skinning a hide. The vines are as heavy rope and I just hope I can get it hoisted back up to drape the new run. It’s going to be a task. If I can’t, I’ll have to prune it back to nothing and forfeit the much needed shade it offers until next year. Sometimes you’re forced to stop, then start all over. That’s OK. I think the majority of us are about to do just that.
My mind is constantly flooded with garden things each spring. It’s a busy time for folks who put things in the dirt. But, before that there’s soil prep and plans. You have to recall what you did the year before that worked, and didn’t. Nothing more maddening than doing the same thing with the same results when that thing didn’t turn out right. Inevitably, some things aren’t worth the trouble (like summer squash for me) and you leave that trouble to someone else.
My skin is already pink and it’s not nearly summer. We have had some warm afternoons and plenty of cool, wet ones, too. Everything is a work-around in the spring because you’re at the mercy of the elements. Pretty sure the cold snaps are over with May a few days away. I’m about to harden off my tomato plants to get them ready for the dirt. I find it intriguing that plants need to ease into the outside from inside. They suffer shock with extremes, not unlike us humans. Sure been a lot of that lately in the world. I suppose there are still shock waves coming, too. Not certain how to brace ourselves for what’s next as we have no idea, really. Again with the work-arounds in light of the elements. Is it safe yet? We are probably in the hardening-off phase more than we realize.
Do you not see this mirrored correlation between created things? The parallels, and parables, and all the common denominators? I cannot unsee it, forever drawing lines of conclusion. No doubt short-sided ones. No doubt only knowing in part. But, it’s a bit like a spider web you’d walk right into if you hadn’t caught a glimmer of it from just the right angle. There it is, in all its complexity and intricacy, spun into some divine design. There’s so much more to this minutiae if we could just catch it in our webs.
SHE GILDS THE LILY: a lavish waste of words and wonder 