A Sunday
Winter feels over, though I suspect that we’ll have blackberry winter yet, and the frost will burn the tips of the tender things in the coming mornings. Today we saw 83F, and we were forced to put out the fans on the back porch. . The dogs lolled around on the warm boards, the bees and wasps flew their missions against us, the dandelions straightened themselves out on the green expanse, the birds gamboled and frisked, and the snakes made an appearance as well, prompting Mrs. Orr to ask me to cut down the Japanese magnolia at the southeast corner of the house. The lithe black things seem to be attracted to it, indeed.
We grilled chicken and kielbasa for supper, and we broke down and cranked up the A/C afterwards., just to get the still, close feeling out of the rooms of the house.
I have been having email and text difficulties, so if you’ve sent me anything recently, please be patient.
The weariness of sun and yard work and good food is overtaking me. Let me offer another piece of music, this one by Jimmy Fortune, the stellar former tenor of The Statler Brothers. I hope this thrills your ears and heart the way it did ours.
Rest well, beloved readers.
~ S.K. Orr
10 Comments
Craig Davis
FWI, I sent you an email last Thursday. If you didn’t get it, let me know here and I will re-send.
admin
Thank you, Craig. I got it, and will respond.
Annie
Oh, those soaring notes! Impressive for a man of a certain age. (My age, more or less, and the notes don’t come as easy as they used to.)
admin
Yes, Annie, Jimmy Fortune’s voice is like a beautiful blade.
James
We aren’t to the fan point yet in the high desert country of north central Oregon, but we are only running the pellett stove in the evenings. (Sometimes overnight depending on how it feels when I take Charlie the wonder mut out for the last time at night.)
So far it took me about a half a ton of pellets more this year than it did last.
The folks acrost the street heat with propane. They have two Social Insecurity checks coming in and the cost of fuel is about to break the bank over there.
admin
James, I know people who heat with propane and I don’t see how they do it. After a very warm weekend, the temps have dipped back down and it’s chilly here in the evenings and mornings. Had another frost scare the other morning. But the traditional last frost cutoff date of May 10th is coming, so the warm weather should be moving in for the season very soon.
stef
Dandelions! They’re out here cheering the place despite the drought and the grass barely over an inch and failed wheat. Recommended: https://www.pardonyourfrench.com/creamy-dandelion-bread-soup/
admin
Thanks, Stef. My grandmother used to cook dandelion greens. I like mustard and turnip and collard greens, but I never liked the ‘lions. There’s something…musty about them.
Ray Bradbury wrote a delightful book many years ago called “Dandelion Wine.” A lyrical read.
Hope y’all get some rain….
Heather Shaler
Dandelion Wine had a huge influence on me as a writer. I was fortunate enough to be able to take a college-level writing class at age 14 (unbeknownst to me, my husband was next door taking the equivalent math class, though we wouldn’t meet for many years). We studied extracts from different authors, but Dandelion Wine is one I keep returning to. I grew up across the lake from there, and it resonates with my soul.
Do you happen to know where Ray Bradbury said something like, “Autumn was the time when all the little boys laid down in the leaves to die with the earth.” Except much more poetic. I’ve been looking for the quote for years.
If you like Ray Bradbury, I recommend the cartoon version of Halloween Tree. First of all, Ray himself narrates it! And it is a powerful depiction of Original Participation, pointing toward Final Participation.
admin
I don’t know the source of the Bradbury quote about autumn, Heather, but I will certainly do my due diligence. I am fatally fond of ol’ Ray.
And I appreciate the recommendation of Halloween Tree…I’ll look for it this weekend during (hopefully) calmer hours.
Always so good to hear from you, daughter.