Lately, I haven’t been blogging because I have been busy watching the birds. I’ve started a new routine in the mornings where I only spend an hour watching the news and C-Span while I eat my breakfast. Then I take a half hour walk to listen to and watch the birds along the path by my house before getting ready for work. It is a beautiful walk, and I always feel refreshed by the time I come home.
Today was gray, but enjoyable just the same. I saw several goldfinch, some red winged blackbirds, robins, blue jay, morning dove, geese flying and honking overhead, sparrows, grackles, wrens, and I heard but didn’t see a wood thrush. Three rabbits crossed my path and hopped away with their little white tails bobbing up and down and some squirrels chased each other around and through the trees.
When I come back from my walk, I spend an hour doing things I need to do but have been putting off. Things like cleaning my drawers, scrubbing places that don’t show but need to be scrubbed, etc. I also spent some time mulching the flower beds and planting flowers and washing and waxing the car.
A couple weeks ago I took a drive to Holmes County to put flowers on my parent's and grandparent's graves and visit my Aunt Margaret who is 97 years old. She lives in a retirement community in Walnut Creek I stopped at Trail on the way to get some yummy Trail Bologna and Swiss Cheese. The drive there brought back all the great memories from my childhood.
My grandparents had a farm near Wilmot that was about 50 acres. The great thing about that farm was that it had everything on it one needed to survive. They had four or five Jersey and Guernsey cows that provided milk and cream. There were lots of chickens to provide eggs and an occasional chicken dinner. Grandpa also raised a few hogs every year. They had an orchard with apple trees, and there was a cherry tree and some quince trees that provided fruit. My grandmother's garden provided everything from rhubarb and strawberries to green beans, onions, potatoes and the best tomatoes I ever ate. Although they were not Amish, they had Amish and Mennonite roots and my grandfather farmed the fields with a team of horses that I liked to visit with in the barn. My grandfather also raised bees and my grandmother made her own butter from the cream their cows produced. Bread with homemade butter and honey and sweet corn in the summer! The farm is still a working farm owned by the Amish family my grandfather sold it to when he retired at age 83 after my grandmother's death. There is no bringing back those wonderful days of playing in the orchard, the woods or hay mow with my cousins, listening to my grandfather's stories and being the beneficiary of my grandmother's concerned attention to my health and appetite, but a drive through Holmes County in the spring sure brings back the wonderful memories that I am so fortunate to have.
As Jamie has posted on his site,
Spring Is and you have to enjoy it while you can!
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