Wednesday, 24 June 2009

• Keeping on. We've had an onslaught of rainy days and cool breezes which refresh, calm and cool me and yet I find myself dragging, thinking about posting but not doing it. Wondering if there really are readers out there. I know there look like there have been visits to the site but maybe they're all web-crawling bots. It doesn't help to be wrestling with a Paul Bunyan sized problem lately. Truth be told, that's the reality. I'm laying here, crushed by my big scary "issue" and suddenly the world (every inch of it) looks very grey and dismal. Hanging on and trying to hope and believe the best in the midst of the great muddle.
  
  The mulberries are ripe. When we were at the zoo this past weekend we came around a corner near some miniature gazelle's cage and found ourselves walking on a the fallen purple fruit. We stopped and pulled down branches and taught our boys about foraging in public places. A passing child asked his mommy in alarm, "Are those berries poison?!?" Smart aleck A....never one to be mealy mouthed shot back with a grin, "Yes! That's why we're eating them!" Yesterday we were driving down I-95 and we passed a spot where a scrub white mulberry was spilling a pool of creamy nuggets all over the guard rail on the shoulder and I thought about our little snack at the zoo again. Its amazing how much food there is around if you just know where to look and what to notice.
  
  Speaking of food....we went mushroom hunting not last weekend but the weekend before with a local mycology club which was really fun. (minus finding two ticks on myself) It was super refreshing to spend time with true nature lovers who are laid back, enjoy being outdoors and know a lot about the world they're exploring. I learned a new mushroom, a nice big one that looks a bit like a portabella and is easily found growing in its favorite habitat, bark mulch. On the way home from the hike A and I stopped and picked some we saw from our car window. So lovely to eat from nobody's hand but God's once in a while and to take a refreshing morning to just be outdoors in the cathedral of a local state park.
  
  Gideon is saying all kinds of words lately:
  

  • duck
  • dog
  • mommy
  • daddy
  • pretty
  • horse
  • milk
  • more
  • no
  • yes
  • up
  • book
  • bye bye

   And I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. He chatters to himself when playing and manages to communicate better with his big brother than anyone else. They're awfully fun to watch together.
  
  I have been working on live trapping the betrothed pair of woodchucks in our backyard. They are living under the next door neighbor unit's deck. Thankfully, we have a very friendly relationship with them and so they are quite willing to allow me to have various animal control men tromping through the yard, placing metal cages and shredded cabbage bait trails all over hither and yon. So, far we've managed to remove the he-chuck (or so I imagine) but, his girlie friend is still munching my swiss chard and turning the pea vines into a nibbled mess. I am so hoping that we get her soon because my poor nicotiana is but a tattered stem at this point, and while I am hoping fervently for a revival in her spirit, there may be no hope if we cannot get the constant snacks to end. Reuben is very excited about the whole business and enjoys crying wolf by looking out the window and saying animatedly, "I sees a woodchuck!" when there is nothing at all there. Silly man. Doesn't he know that the fate of the zinnias is hanging in the balance? You mustn't tease a tense gardener.
  
  And speaking of tense....please think of me and pray of me regarding my afore-mentioned "problem." I'm not at liberty to share with all of you dear people what's going on but, its big and bad and I'm scared so, support in any form is deeply appreciated.
  
  

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