Posts
The Museum is open; click the link above. It is now early fall, and we are looking forward to the cool weather, pumpkins, and holidays. Each morning, I feel the chill in the air as the days grow shorter.
Mums are out, replacing late summer flowers, but my roses hang on till at least October. We may get one pumpkin from the volunteer plants that have taken hold, but that's fine with me. We have birds all over, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, a woodpecker, blue jays, robins, black birds, red wing blackbirds, crows, doves, pigeons. The occasional duck couple rests in my flower bed, and gees fly over head. Since the factories moved or cleaned up their act along the river, the water birds are back; gulls, pelicans, herons, cranes, more ducks. The eagles are here, and many hawks. We have a back yard owl that hoots for us, and once in a while, visits from wild turkeys and pheasants.
Our crows caw caw to each other, and I had a friend who used to leave pizza out for them.
Each day, some memory is stirred for me of my family and lost friends. I encounter them working at the museum, which is a 24/7 job, or at home, cleaning, or in the yard clipping, planting an pruning.
I see my grandpa puttering in what was his yard before my parents bought their house. He planted violets, many varieties, peonies, roses, many bushes including lilac, snowball and mock orange. My mother did coral bells and zinnias, a few miniature roses. Lilies of the valley, a few tulips, hibiscus, were also there. When they bloom, it's like a time capsule opening.
We still have woods around us, and the deer visit often. The day after my Dad died, I saw a beautiful buck. Maybe it was a message. Who knows?
Cool weather will be here soon; we are having an surge of Indian Summer, but the trees are starting to turn. We will have a Spoon River festival this year, and tombstones of Edgar Lee Masters' characters will be set up along the river.
How quiet the nights are, but for the owl, and few buzzing insects. When I drive somewhere early in the morning, I see the towns waking up, the lines for coffee at coffee shops, the doors opening, front steps still being swept. Dogs are walked, and a few cats are come home exhausted from their night meanderings.
Squirrels are very busy despite the unseasonably warm weather, and chipmunks run all over like made, tails at attention. We name them all Alvin; they have sanctuary on our deck, sleeping into an old doll buggy. My husband rescued one from a neighbors glue trap; "hold on Buddy," he crooned. He got him loose with baby powder. The little guy ran off like a little white ghost, frantic but safe.
Since them, we are chipmunk haven.
So the world spins, and the seasons turn. We plod on day to day, grateful each day no matter what comes. Have a save, blessed fall, and here's to Autumn and Halloween!!
