An All Natural Yard
A few years ago I was in Sacramento,
California on legal business. When my business was completed the legal
assistant drove me back to the law offices. All the time I had been in
Sacramento the weather had been challenging. There was almost nonstop heavy
rain and winds were 60 m.p.h. and more. Our drive that morning found the
weather unchanged.
Listening to the weather forecast earlier in the day I had heard that they thought by noon there should be less rain and that the wind would finally calm down. Due to the intense wind the airport had been closed with all flights to and from Sacramento cancelled. Even the semitrailer rigs had been stopped.
Back at the law office conference room the assistant called the travel agency that the firm used to see if I would be able to get a flight our that afternoon. Another man, a former student of mine from Missouri, was also there and we were anxious to leave "sunny" California for our home state!
You should have seen the smile on his face, which I'm certain mirrored mine, when we learned that they were resuming flights about 2:30 P.M. and that they could get us both on board. Back to Missouri where we could count on the weather changing quickly!
Soon after the flight was confirmed a paralegal assistant entered the conference room and announced that the rain had stopped and that the sun was breaking through the clouds occasionally! She suggested we go to lunch at a restaurant on a river boat that was on the way to the airport. So were were on on way!
The restaurant was all she had promised. A beautiful place, quiet and peaceful. The hamburger, fries and coke that cost my former student nearly $12.00 was just a little dear however!
He and I sat on one side of the table with the two lay office employees opposite us. We, the introverts from Missouri, they, the extroverts from California! They had a lot to say about the weather and how difficult it was. Then they began to discuss their yards. The legal assistant was having difficulties with his large dog, which lived exclusively in the house. During the rainy weather when he walked her she sometimes strayed into the yard which turned to mud, as his yard had no grass.
The paralegal did not have this problem she said, as she had an all natural yard. Now I'm from Missouri and I thought that everyone who has a yard, had an all natural yard. It's called grass. But I could tell from the conversation that her use of natural and mine were different. Rather than appear too much of a hick, I thought that if I kept listening, eventually I would find out what she meant. Sure enough, I was right. Her all natural yard was soil covered with pine needles.
To me the best all natural yard is still good old green grass, with some flowers thrown in for good measure. As I sit at my computer writing I look out my north window and down upon our yard. I love to see the myriad colors in the flowers. This view reminds me of another from long ago.
In 1957 my parents purchased a large house which had been built by a local doctor in the mid-1930's. Of the four bedroom one which was upstairs was very large. Somehow I became the occupant of all that space. It had windows on three sides. The north windows of that room looked out upon our spacious back yard. We had many flower gardens and huge climbing roses. My father and I spent many summer hours working in the gardens and tending the roses. I use to love to look down in the evening hours when he would be in the yard.
My father had a severe hearing loss. He, his father, and his two brothers all were deaf to varying degrees. His hearing loss made communication a challenge and without doubt molded his life-style. He spent a great deal of time reading in the yard during the summer evenings. Always when I found him sitting in his lawn chair with his reading material, I would see Miss Melody, our cat, asleep on his lap.
If he was not reading he would be sitting in the grass. Each year he declared war on the dandelions. He never won, but from him I caught the character trait of determination. He kept meeting the challenge--he never gave into the enemy.
Our friend, deCoucy, has taken up my father's war. Unlike him, however, deCoucy, our big dog, eats the enemy! We don't know why, but he spends his entire time in the yard eating the dandelions. Fortunately our yard yields him a great feast each day.
Also akin to my father is deCoucy's love of our flower gardens. he loves to sniff through the many varieties of flowers.
He would have loved to visit those beautiful creations of my father and I know, had they known each other, they could have joined in the war against the enemy, Father digging them up, deCoucy swallowing them down! In Missouri we love an all natural yard.
Listening to the weather forecast earlier in the day I had heard that they thought by noon there should be less rain and that the wind would finally calm down. Due to the intense wind the airport had been closed with all flights to and from Sacramento cancelled. Even the semitrailer rigs had been stopped.
Back at the law office conference room the assistant called the travel agency that the firm used to see if I would be able to get a flight our that afternoon. Another man, a former student of mine from Missouri, was also there and we were anxious to leave "sunny" California for our home state!
You should have seen the smile on his face, which I'm certain mirrored mine, when we learned that they were resuming flights about 2:30 P.M. and that they could get us both on board. Back to Missouri where we could count on the weather changing quickly!
Soon after the flight was confirmed a paralegal assistant entered the conference room and announced that the rain had stopped and that the sun was breaking through the clouds occasionally! She suggested we go to lunch at a restaurant on a river boat that was on the way to the airport. So were were on on way!
The restaurant was all she had promised. A beautiful place, quiet and peaceful. The hamburger, fries and coke that cost my former student nearly $12.00 was just a little dear however!
He and I sat on one side of the table with the two lay office employees opposite us. We, the introverts from Missouri, they, the extroverts from California! They had a lot to say about the weather and how difficult it was. Then they began to discuss their yards. The legal assistant was having difficulties with his large dog, which lived exclusively in the house. During the rainy weather when he walked her she sometimes strayed into the yard which turned to mud, as his yard had no grass.
The paralegal did not have this problem she said, as she had an all natural yard. Now I'm from Missouri and I thought that everyone who has a yard, had an all natural yard. It's called grass. But I could tell from the conversation that her use of natural and mine were different. Rather than appear too much of a hick, I thought that if I kept listening, eventually I would find out what she meant. Sure enough, I was right. Her all natural yard was soil covered with pine needles.
To me the best all natural yard is still good old green grass, with some flowers thrown in for good measure. As I sit at my computer writing I look out my north window and down upon our yard. I love to see the myriad colors in the flowers. This view reminds me of another from long ago.
In 1957 my parents purchased a large house which had been built by a local doctor in the mid-1930's. Of the four bedroom one which was upstairs was very large. Somehow I became the occupant of all that space. It had windows on three sides. The north windows of that room looked out upon our spacious back yard. We had many flower gardens and huge climbing roses. My father and I spent many summer hours working in the gardens and tending the roses. I use to love to look down in the evening hours when he would be in the yard.
My father had a severe hearing loss. He, his father, and his two brothers all were deaf to varying degrees. His hearing loss made communication a challenge and without doubt molded his life-style. He spent a great deal of time reading in the yard during the summer evenings. Always when I found him sitting in his lawn chair with his reading material, I would see Miss Melody, our cat, asleep on his lap.
If he was not reading he would be sitting in the grass. Each year he declared war on the dandelions. He never won, but from him I caught the character trait of determination. He kept meeting the challenge--he never gave into the enemy.
Our friend, deCoucy, has taken up my father's war. Unlike him, however, deCoucy, our big dog, eats the enemy! We don't know why, but he spends his entire time in the yard eating the dandelions. Fortunately our yard yields him a great feast each day.
Also akin to my father is deCoucy's love of our flower gardens. he loves to sniff through the many varieties of flowers.
He would have loved to visit those beautiful creations of my father and I know, had they known each other, they could have joined in the war against the enemy, Father digging them up, deCoucy swallowing them down! In Missouri we love an all natural yard.
Posted: Mon - December 26, 2005 at 04:17 PM
Quick Links
Reflection
"Chance favors only the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur
"Art arises from basic needs-a strong need to express and celebrate our everyday events.
In a museum most people spend less than twenty seconds looking at a work of art."
"Art arises from basic needs-a strong need to express and celebrate our everyday events.
In a museum most people spend less than twenty seconds looking at a work of art."
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
blogs
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Visitors
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Dec 29, 2005 06:33 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Dec 29, 2005 06:33 PM