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Glad to be back here at the lust for
living and sharing in this summer of 2010 after a wonderful
visit with a long lost family member of the Holt, (Holts early
on Scots?) Esterly family. For now, the sweet continuum of
constant little chores are once again upon us.
I had a kind of moment
yesterday, with the hiring of a man to cut out the Junipers
I've worried with for 30 years.
They were so loaded with those
bag worms this year, even after we severely trimmed them
back last year. The sneaky little things had learned to
hide in places where they couldn't be seen, and the
resulting egg cases produced masses of little bag worms,
which would surely soon voraciously eat the whole tree.
"I'm tired of these things," I
told my husband. I have hired a man to cut them out, which
he did in just a few minutes. He was a skilled woodsman and
zip they were out.
As we burned them last night I
was having a bit of regret and bemoaned my loss, although
the space was no longer just a burned out Wheatfield where
only Junipers would grow.
"You've struggled with those
things for 30 years. I think it's time you gave up." My
husband was not emotionally attached to any Juniper.
The bon fire was pungent with
the smoke of their demise. I rested in my chair and
remember the year they were planted, when my children were
small. My thoughts went to the times the kids ran and
played beneath their branches. Those were the years I and
ours lived in a time of sweet anticipation, and in my
ignorance had no knowledge of the world that has come to
be. All I knew was how my husband and I had married and
enjoyed our children with a sure expectation for the same
smooth transition into adulthood our children would have.
As the moods of a sometimes dark
world pushed upon me, of divorce and disappointment I went
to the Junipers and corrected the problems the trees had,
simply because it was a task that could be accomplished. As
the wind swished through their branches there seemed to be a
meditation prayer reaching up to a Higher Power and that was
soothing, too. True the grandchildren too have enjoyed
playing under them, but they are ready now for helping me
with the beds of Rosemary, Thyme, Basil and Sage that can
grow in the beds I've built from the larger branches of the
Junipers around their stumps.
All is not that sad. I can look
out across the length of the yard to easily see the road
now. The open space on our hillside is well drained
and flooded with sunlight, perfect for beds.
My older grandchildren are
thrilled with that possibility as we now go about gathering
the sage, grape leaves, strawberry leaves, blackberry
leaves, rose hips, and wonderful chocolate mint growing in
mass, and then, storing them in the newly arranged drying
shed.
Cold winter days will find us
curled in a comfy arm chair, sipping tea and watching
either cooking channels, history channel or the science
channel. Last year when I picked up mint tea at the store
it was 4.00 a box, actually too pricey to use very often.
We will have tea this winter.
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