serendipity

note: i started this post on sunday a.m., then couldn't add the photo because my computer kept kicking me off the internet! arghh!

it's going to be a beautiful sunday; highs about 70 and sun---not too shabby for the 21st of october, a date more notable for being the birthday of dennis dieck. 53 today!

it will be a bulb planting day for me and leaf mowing day for him. funny how birthdays lose their day-long glow after age 40. they are just another day, but with cake!

to get back on point, we had a wonderful ( as always ) visit with our dear friends the pizzos this weekend. the time magazine on their coffee table featured an article on the effects of birth order in families. it was an ok article, nothing awesome or surprising. it didn't make me thunk myself on the head and say " so that's why i ended up this way! mom should've had me first!"

then this a.m. i checked my emails as i was way behind in deleting junk.

i opened one titled "how to tell if you are mom's favorite" and saw this photo--could there be a message about birth order here???

the gardener welcomes the hunter

i've been preoccupied with other things lately so i haven't kept up with my blog. i tried several times to sit down and type but the words just wouldn't flow from the broca's area of my frontal cortex :) --- aka writer's block, brain fart (sustained one, for sure) lack of inspiration, whatever.

i resurrected an essay i wrote about 12 years ago after standing in the driveway of my home on a crisp october evening and watching the sky over me. it'll have to do for now...

The Gardener Welcomes the Hunter

Night's curtains are slowly drawn against the chill of the October day.

I stand in the driveway, rake in hand, eyes lifted to the Southern heavens.

And there, his arm outstretched, is the Hunter, Orion.

I know then, with certainty, that fall has truly come.

For in October Orion is visible, powerfully poised above the roofline of my neighbor's house.

He has come to quietly stalk the winter moons across my sky.

I will follow his silent progress over time, his diamond belt veiled by the frost of my breath.

He will at times wear a camouflage of thick snow-flakes or a cloak of heavy clouds.

Unnoticed by many below him, he will hunt the moons of winter.

From his starting point high above the glow from the kitchen windows, he will move with stealth.

By December he will have taken up a position over the peak of the garage, weapon ready.

Throughout endless January he will continue on the trail of his quarry, forever silent and patient.

In February he will track above the spires of the pines that form a green winter carpet under his feet.

In March he will seemingly walk the tightrope of wire stretched between the utility poles lining my alley.

His moon hunt will continue, regardless of weather, a function of time and tugging planets.

And in time, April will meet him, carrying Spring in her soft, warm arms.

It is then that Orion will sink from my sight, hidden behind the cityscape silhouette.

But come October I will stand once more, rake in hand and smell of leaf smoke in my hair.

And Orion will return, once again, to resume his silent pursuit of the harvest moon and all those to follow.

And my wish for him, as I hang up my rake, will be for a successful hunt.

"there WERE fairies at the bottom of our garden..."

bad, bad news....wearing black.....in mourning....which is why i haven't blogged in a while.
i refer you readers back to my post of aug. 20, a photo of a little plaque on my garden fence, attesting to the fact that there are fairies living in my garden.
well, i am sad to report to you that there is one less. i refer you now to the photo at the right---------------------------------->
what you see here is a fairy corpse, discovered by yours truly while doing fall gardenkeeping duties--deadheading, seed-gathering, trimming and generally putting the garden to bed for winter.
this loss is so hard to bear. i just hope brodie was not to blame for this little sprite's demise.....