Unbelievable!
Just 24 hours after my Perfect Day post, I had…
a perfect day!
The sun, yes, the SUN – unseen for roughly 17 years, made its appearance in a sky of breathtaking blue. Before 9:00 AM I was sucking down the cerulean Kool-aid…
“Oh, I love you, Pacific Northwest. You are the most wondrous place in the world! How could I have ever written all those bad things about you?”
Yeah, I’ll be here forever. You know it.
So I danced the sun salsa,
I gamboled in the garden,
I cavorted with kites.
And then I settled into a patio chair for some afternoon java.
That’s when I saw them out of the corner of my eye –
a pride of lions.
They didn’t think I’d notice as they padded in on quiet feet, but their sun-kissed manes peeked up through the grass and gave them away. Soon, very soon, they will leap out with mates and offspring and spread their riotous yellow all over my 5-acre field.
Behold the KING of the suburban jungle.
Lawn warriors and city dwellers – do not panic. I can handle this. I know just what to do.
I ran into the house and grabbed my first and only line of defense…
a dog-eared copy of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine.
And then, sitting in the sun among my family, I read aloud the poetry of chapter three…
of flowers flooding the world – dripping off lawns and onto brick streets… of the dazzle and glitter of golden sun spilling everywhere –
stare too long and each and every one will burn a hole in your retina.
I repeat each of Ray’s words as clearly as I can, then let the small breeze carry them aloft – so they will reach the neighbors’ ears before they fire up their mowers, or tear open that sack of Weed & Feed.
Such beauty caught there between the lines – my teenagers do not roll their eyes… not even once.
And so I tell them of sunlight gathered and pressed in a cold cellar, then mixed with water from a rain barrel in the spring of 1928… of summer caught, bottled, and stoppered for a future January day.
Dandelion wine. Dandelion wine. Dandelion wine.
When I am through, I smile and see the lions anew.
Then get back to the business of loving my neighbor…
even when she’s hauling herbicide.
PROMPT: Today is a marvelous day to sing songs of the unsung. Celebrate those wondrous things woefully underappreciated! Did you know that every part of the dandelion is edible? In fact, their leaves are more nutritious than any greens you shell out cash for at the market. Write, paint, or sing about each small and thankless thing. Good manners… running water… a smile… a moment… and just the right words at just the right time.
I've been to Maple Falls twice in two days. Yes. The real FALLS that few people know exist. And I've cleaned the gutters. And stopped shivering. But alas, I've seen no dandelions. Not yet.
ReplyDeleteYES indeed! To see the dandelions, you'll have to get off the mountain and come to my place. I am having a bumper crop this year!
Delete