Zinnias

Zinnias are a blessing that keep turning up in my life. My most profound memory of them is years ago, the first time I served on a team to lead a three day retreat inside the prison. One of the guys, Ronald, reached over and gently touched the scarlet zinnia in the vase at the table. He looked at me and asked, “Are these real?” I wondered how long it had been since this man, incarcerate within high stone walls, had seen a fresh flower. We just held the retreat again a couple weeks ago, and another man seemed especially appreciative of the flowers. For years, a farmer friend of one of our team members has grown fields of zinnias and offers us all we want for the retreat. A bit of sacrificial love, shown to prisoners he’ll never meet.
Last summer, while helping to build a house in the Dominican Republic for a family, I saw some beautiful tropical flowers, but was most amazed at the zinnias growing near “our” house – along a rusting barbed wire fence. In a haunting way, they were beautiful with the shadow of barbed wire against the stucco house, .

Early this spring when I decided to start some seeds indoors for my garden – something I had never done before – among the seeds I chose were zinnias. Much to my amazement, they sprouted and I transplanted the plants near the fronts of two of the raised beds. They’ve done extraordinarily well – I’ve cut numerous bunches, which only encourages branching and more flowers. I expect to have zinnias until the frost unless the deer eat them.  Some of the plants are protected with a chicken wire cage, but the other bunch, in front of the tomatoes which have grown over my head against the back fence, are not covered.  I guess if I had a choice I'd tell the deer to eat those zinnias and leave my veggies alone!

My mother-in-law (see the “Gordon, Stop the Car!” entry on 6/21/10) has been painting flowers for weeks, in preparation for a sale at church. We made packaged sets of flower notecards, and my brother-in-law matted some of the paintings for sale. Paul helped set up a canopy tent and sat with her during the sale, which was quite successful. Apparently she’s turning in more than $200 to support her church. I bought one of her paintings – of zinnias!

Gordon, Stop the Car!

"Gordon, stop the car!"  I was traveling with Paul's family to their camp in the edge of the Adirondack Mountains, and was startled when Barbara demanded that his father pull over.  My future mother-in-law (though I didn't know it at the time) was so insistent that I thought someone was sick or there was some other emergency.  All she wanted was for him to pick some flowers she saw growing along the roadside so she could paint them later.  I was a little surprised that he accomodated the request!

Fast forward 35 plus years and yesterday, I asked (demanded?) Paul to steer the canoe a little closer to the edge of the waterway so  I could take pictures of some pretty iris-like flowers.  I sounded a little like my mother-in-law, only I don't paint - I scrapbook!  Nearly every time we go canoeing, I take the camera and probably spend more time than he thinks is necessary, taking pictures of wildflowers and wildlife.  I'm still trying to get a close up of a Great Blue Heron.

Yesterday's blessing was our first canoe outing of the year - we're a little late carving out the time this year to take to the water.  We travelled near Tully to Labrador Pond  - a picturesque pond nestled between two steep hillsides that create quite the wind tunnel.  Each time we go there, it seems we fight at least some breeze as we're heading north.  It's always a relief to turn south, and just drift back to the launch area. 

I like this canoe spot - it meets my two main criteria for canoeing:

• We can drive the car nearly to the water's edge so I don't need to help carry the boat very far to launch it.  At 4'10", it's about all I can manage to get it out of the garage and on top of the Subaru and get it off without dropping it, keeping in mind we need to reverse the process after canoeing.  I don't want to over do the exercise aspect of canoeing by needing to portage the thing from the car to the water!
• Labrador Pond has a defined area for canoing - I like rivers that meander or small ponds like this one.  My most dreaded canoe place is the middle of one of the Finger Lakes - not much to see (maybe it's that there's not much to photograph!) and if a wind picks up, I have to battle too hard to help move the boat.  Admitedly, Paul does most of the work on these outings, but I try to do my part. 

Partway through our trip yesterday, I leaned out over the bow, trying to capture the yellow water lilies as we drift by. I've attached the camera to a retractable cord on my life jacket so if it goes for a swim I can fish it out and hopefully save the memory card.  The lilies have a peculiar red shape inside the yellow petals - like flowers you'd see on the Wizard of Oz!  I don't quite get the centers on the camera this trip - so next time we go, Paul had better be prepared to hear me ask him to steer the canoe a little closer to them one more time. 

I sound like my mother-in-law, and he's accomodating like his father.

Snow Day(s)

Snow days - not for me - but the local schools were closed Thursday and Friday.  Thursday's closing seemed unnecessary, but that's in retrospect - glad I don't have to make the decisions.  My Bible Study was cancelled because by evening it was snowing more heavily and they predicted lots of wind - which never really materialized.  I did a little scrapbooking - a page on My Faith Heritage - does that count for Bible Study??  Maybe not, but I did reflect on being baptized and never again darkening the doors of that church.  God put his mark on me that day in 1956, though, and drew me ever closer to him in subsequent years as my parents started regular church attendance. 

Friday morning it felt like the winters of my childhood. Snow was piled everywhere and streets were barely plowed - single lane in places, evena couple days later.  People who had parked on the street seemed stunned that the snow plows had nearly buried their cars.  Paul got out the snowblower and tackled the driveway and sidewalk, while I shoveled steps and out to the cars to sweep them off.  Even with the push broom, it was hard work getting it off the car roofs. I had to shovel just to open my car door and get the scraper out.  At work, by 10:30 I was ravenous - my usual bowl of Cheerioes had worn off.  I guess I should do a little more regular exercise!  People in my building chipped in to buy pizza for lunch, (hoping the delivery guy could make it as it was still snowing!) and we had a lot of fun eating and laughing together at noon.  Even though we worked, it felt a little like a snow day.  My coworker said her 4 year old son told her he was jumping in "snow puddles." 

When I arrived home, Paul's car was on the street - the plow had heavily filled in the end of the driveway - we used shovels for a few minutes, but Paul retrieved the snowblower to finish the job - heavy wet snow is not fun!  I was out this morning for a while, and when I came back, found it again plowed full!  This time the neighbor was out and cleared our driveway with his snowblower. 

Hope the robins I saw last week found a protected place!  Maybe spring's not quite here - but it's coming!

The Blessing of Spring Coming

Move aside Punxsutawney Phil, I saw three robins yesterday, and that's MY predictor of spring!

I went down to Aurora to drop something off for Jason at Wells College.  It was one of those beautiful blue sky afternoons, with a few puffy clouds in the sky.  A couple students were gamely trying to sled down the hill from the Athletic Center, one on a tube, and the other on a sled.  It seemed slow going on the soft snow, but they were laughing. 

On my way back up the hilly country road, I saw that  on some of the windswept lawns and under pine trees, the snow has melted down to bare grass.  Suddenly I saw two robins bouncing along, searching for worms, I guess.  A bit later, I saw one more.  It's almost spring!

A year ago Paul and I went on a get away weekend and saw numerous robins in the still snow-filled landscaping around the hotel property.  It seemed somehow wrong to see them in the middle of the snow, but they didn't seem to mind.  By the time I found my camera they were gone.  The promise of spring - a memory only in my mind.

Like Goldilocks - Just Right!

Earlier this week, I put my skis in the back of the car, planning that I would ski after work.  Today I carried my ski clothes into the office, in preparation for going straight to the nature trail on my way home.  Unlike our pre Christmas skiing, this evening was perfect - not too little snow, and not too much snow as was the case Sunday when I went out, but just right! 

Several people before me had skied, and no one had come along with snow shoes to mess up the tracks.  There was lots of nicely packed powder snow.  I was all alone in the small woods, and there was just enough light in the sky to show the path.  The wind blew fiercely as I crossed the open space alongside the middle school field - my face hurt from the cold!  But as I went into the woods, it was sheltered, and was just about perfect.

I am reminded of being a kid and going sledding - dragging sleds from our house to Pierce's hill to play all afternoon before treading back home - feet numb, and mittens caked with snow.  Or walking the block from home with the guards on my ice skates to Lincoln School, where the ball field was flooded to make an ice rink.  Once, I skated with my hands in my pockets, tripped, and banged up my chin - it was sore and scabbed for days!  I guess I'm glad my parents urged us outdoors even on wintery days.

I debated making a second loop around the nature trail and decided to just do it!  Am I glad I did - as I rounded one corner on the far side, three deer stood alongside the path.  I came within 20 feet of one of them before it took off into the woods.  As I turned the next corner, I saw two more - they froze in place - did they really think I couldn't see them?  I continued on, up a slight hill into the trees, and them down a nice incline - makes me feel like a real skier!  The blessing of today was a ski trip that was just right!

Almost Not Quite Enough Snow

Cross country skiing in Central New York is a challenge at times. Winter doesn’t seem as cold or snowy as I recall from my youth when it seemed like the snow fell near Thanksgiving time and remained until spring brought relief. I’ve learned these last few years, that you need to take your opportunities when they come, since if you wait until the weekend, say, the snow might be gone, melted away by winter rains.

Yesterday morning Heather and I dressed in layers of outdoor clothing, loaded the skis in the back of the Subaru and drove to the nature trail behind the college. We strapped on our skis and optimistically set out. Quickly we realized two things. 1) There’s almost not quite enough snow for cross country skiing. 2) They’ve added gravel to the trails instead of more small cinders, making for some stony places where the snow is especially thin. Put the two things together, and it was not the best skiing experience. We’d be striding along, then abruptly, though briefly, be halted by a rock hitting one ski. Almost enough to make your forward momentum tumble you over, but not quite.  (Well, Heather fell once going down a slope, but the camera was in the case so I didn't capture that on film!  And I went a different way - there's a benefit to following in someone else's ski tracks.)

Nonetheless, it is lovely in that oasis of nature just off the bustle of the commerce of Grant Avenue. The shrubs were covered in layers of snow where they are protected from the wind. We saw deer tracks and bird tracks amid the human and dog prints. We seemed to be the first skiers, and didn’t see snowshoe tracks, as I’ve noticed in years past. We looked for dried milkweed to pick for craft projects; I had a plastic bag in my pocket and a small knife in case they were resistant to hand picking. No luck – makes me think I should have picked some when I was at the wildlife refuge a month ago, but I hesitated to “take anything but pictures” in that protected place. (I guess my rule keeping doesn’t extend to the college property somehow.)

We made our way around the loop a couple times, and returned home,

ready for tea and a Christmas cookie after we changed out of our outdoor clothes. Both of us were a bit warm and had slightly overdressed for the exertion of skiing. Hopefully, we’ve left the skis and poles in the back of the car. I see snowflakes falling right now, so maybe another inch of snow has buried the gravel a bit deeper – making for a more pleasant excursion today and tomorrow before the weatherman’s prediction of rain for Christmas comes true. We’d better get dressed and go out this morning, saving the last of the cookie baking until later. Don’t want to miss the promise of just enough snow for skiing.