I read a quote from an Englishman that went something like, "People have a tendency to see country life through rose colored glasses." I think there is some truth to that but if you live in the country and take those rose colored glasses off...allow your eyes to focus and get accustomed to the light out here you see it is still pretty rosy.
For example: I got out of bed early this morning, brewed coffee and took my iPad out on the front porch to check email and possibly do a little writing should the inspiration hit me. The sun was rising on a clear, cool, beautiful morning. As the sun began to throw his beams across the pasture and through the trees surrounding our house, the morning birds began to call to one another. I heard the chirp of chickadees and the blue jays warning everything and everyone around them. In the distance the crows began their chorus of calls and then softly to the southwest of the house I heard a pair of doves softly calling to each other. The temperature was in the forties this morning and it was cool but there was promise to a much warmer day and as I sat there, I knew spring was just around the corner. It is only a week until vernal equinox and life will begin to change...come alive with color, eventually bearing fruit for the rest of the year.
As I sat there, my thoughts moved to the few things I have already planted and the others that I am going to plant in the next few weeks. If I am attentive, those seeds will grow and bear vegetables and fruits that we will can, dry and freeze for the months ahead. I thought too about the seeds sprouting under the soil and the miracle that this process really is. I remembered my seed flats that have begun to sprout and spring forth. The tender plants are fragile now but in time they will be strong and able to stand up to the wind and the rain that will make them stronger.
My thoughts drifted to the budding trees and the plum trees that grow next to our old barn. They don't produce every year but just about every other year they provide us with enough plump juicy plums for Dre' to make enough plum jelly for a couple of years. This is a wonderful treat on any morning but especially on a cold winter morning when it is dark and bleak outside and the taste reminds us of warmer months and the bounty of God. A couple of years ago we gave some of our friends, the Packers from Australia, a couple of jars of Dre's jellies to take home with them. Several months after that Rob posted on his Google+ page that he was finishing up some jelly that Dre' had given him. He shot a photo of the jelly spread on a homemade scone and though he wasn't sure what kind of jelly it was, he was sure it was delicious and they had savored every taste of it. I messaged him that it was her plum jelly, which I am certain would win a blue ribbon at any county fair anywhere in the country.
Some years the plums don't make but every year the wild blackberries...nuisance that they are to the pathways and the pasture's edge, produce berries--free for the picking. Those berries can be eaten straight off of the vine or made into tasty cobblers, preserves and jelly. We prefer jelly at this house but preserves are some folks favorites.
As the sun rose all of these thoughts came into mind along with that quote I had read somewhere. Rose colored glasses...maybe. A life of rosy possibilities...for sure.
Now, it is off to work I go. I have a busy day ahead.
Until next time...John
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