An Early Morning Walk — Pub. August 1988 in newspaper.
NOTE: We have a great blog coming tomorrow written by Donna. I just need to make sure I have all the photos in place like she would like. Thank you again for keeping us going.
Sister waiting on another walk around the yard.
A pre-dawn shower has refreshed this old farm and makes it look new again. Sister (my dog) and I are poking around in the yard to try to detect any new happenings over night. Raindrops hanging on blades of grass and leaves look like diamonds glistening in the sunlight. John wishes the rain would “set in” for the day.
I cannot imagine life without a dog. I grew up here on the Windy Knoll – then isolated – with no other children around. Dogs were my friends and playmates. A dog’s love, loyalty and companionship are constant and dependable. Many times I’ve aired my hurt feelings and broken dreams to my dog and shed tears in his/her fur. I always receive a lick and a nudge of encouragement from a damp nose. It doesn’t matter to the dog if I’m old, young, right, wrong, fat or thin; he is non-critical and repeats nothing.
As we wander around I can’t help but think of some city folks who eat only “select” foods. Sometimes they’re called “health-food nuts.” Such a person would pay good money to eat breakfast here in our yard. I think they might begin over behind the shed at the old-timey, clear-seed white peach tree. It is heavy with fruit just waiting for pickers. One can stand for quite a while and eat here, as the diner is hard pressed to get more than tablespoon of edible “meat”. It being small I break the peach open and gnaw the “goodie” from the peel – watching for worms. It’s best to find a whole worm rather than a half.
Returning to the yard, breakfast could continue at the fig bush. They’re small, but what a flavor. A few years ago, about this time of year I read an ad from a lady looking for figs. Here is how it read: “I can do without cattle and I can do without pigs, but to save my life I can’t do without figs.”
A not so friendly hornets nest.
To complete a breakfast of fruit would take only a few more steps and a stop at the grapevine. I wonder how many years grapevines produce. This one is older than I. Much care is required in gathering these dark purple bits of nutrition. Other farm residents enjoy them, too – hornets, wasps and yellow jackets.
No walk around the yard is complete without a visit to the herb garden. I stop to break a limb from the apple mint, crush its leaves and delight in its fragrance. Sister helps with my inspection of the pineapple sage. It should soon be in blazing bloom with its red spikes attracting and feeding the Ruby-throated Hummingbird before it migrates to its winter home far to the south.