Today’s air wafts the softness of the after-rain. The world is washed clean and every parched plant and tree has been replenished with streams of quenching water. While the tomatillo, tomato, and squash plants are a little worse for wear in their shaggy autumn wardrobes, the Swiss chard has taken on a new life. Even the corn has perked up and stands proudly at attention.
This afternoon I picked and I planted. We ate today’s bounty for dinner—a skillet vegetable sauté smothered in cheese—rich and satisfying, and fresh, fresh, fresh. I planted garlic and tomorrow I will plant onions. It’s like putting the cloves and seeds down for a winter’s nap, albeit one that includes growth and harvest in June.
The wasps, bees, and butterflies still flit through the garden and dance in the flowers. I hung the bags of Niger seed for the finches and was rewarded with a dozen tweeting birdies in the neighbor’s tree. It took them just an hour to come back to feed. The white-crowned sparrows have been amazingly active since the rain and the towhees are back. I hadn’t seen the towhees for a long while, but there are four of them in the yard now. They aren’t very afraid of me and I like it like that. A week or so ago the titmice came back! Tiny treasures that make me laugh with their silly antics. I haven’t seen them this week, though. I also captured with my lens an unhappy hummer just sitting on a branch in the rain. I got the feeling she likes the sun better.
The blasted scrub jays keep pecking at the house trying to hide acorns. Although they make me worry about roof damage, they are still funny with their aggressive antics. I was drying pumpkin seeds on the patio, and one adventuresome scrub jay tried to bend the metal mesh of the drier so he could eat the seeds. He didn’t succeed but it wasn’t for lack of trying. From the sound of his calls and fight with the wire, he apparently had a low frustration level.
The Southern California alligator lizard left an intact skin for us in the yard. Leonel brought it in and I put it in a bowl on the table. When Conor (7) saw it, he ran screaming through the house, excited with the discovery. It’s amazing what enthusiasm and excitement nature brings to our lives.
Smell the air. Eat your veggies. Slow down and breathe deeply.
Comments are closed.