Friday, March 7, 2014

Already the rain is forgotten. The only reminder is that everything has greened up. The gentle temperatures have returned and the air is fragrant from the pink blooms of the jasmine plant in my yard. The orange blossoms will open any day now and the air will smell even sweeter.

The nice part is that since Molly Pink in essence lives at my house, all the time I’m sitting in my yard, drinking coffee and soaking up the morning sun, I’m really working. I notice everything with the idea of writing about it. How silent it was this morning, that’s silent in terms of traffic and city noises, but there were birds singing everywhere.

My flowers love this weather. The carnations are blooming, the red salvia is attracting humming birds and the pot of pink jasmine reminds me how much I like the colors of pink and green together.

Molly has spent a lot of time in this yard and sometimes I can almost see the action I’ve written as if it were happening now.

I love going out in the yard at night. For some reason, even with all the lights around, I can see a lot of stars. The sky is big and dark blue twinkling with the big dipper and Venus. I can pick out the reddish cast of Mars.

When I was a kid we lived in an apartment that had a backyard full of broken glass and empty dirt. The only time I spent there was when my mother hung out laundry. I would keep her company in the basement while she washed the clothes on an old ringer machine. The basement was dark and pretty creepy. The room with the furnace was next to the washing room and I would watch the janitor load the trash into the fire. He used to find me treasures in the trash, like a little hand sewing machine.

As an aside, our old building was built as hotel for 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. At the time I didn’t think any thing of it, but all the rooms in our apartment were the same size, except for the living room which was really two rooms divided by a pocket door and must have been a suite. It offered cheap rent and a lot of our neighbors were artists and writers. And then urban renewal came along and they tore it down.


I wish I could get a message to that me and let her know that a wonderful yard was in her future.

4 comments:

Linda O. Johnston said...

Your yard sounds delightful, Betty, and definitely inspirational. I like my yard, too, and my good view, but it's usually too light at night for me to see more than the moon or occasional planets or stars, rarely any constellations.

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, it's surprising how many stars I can see and there is even a street lamp nearby.

Planner said...

Yesterday it was quite breezy where I live, and I saw three hawks playing in the wind, gliding silently like kites. Observing nature makes me happy, too--and it's free!

Betty Hechtman said...

Planner, sometimes when we walk in the mountains, a hawk will ride on the wind and be level with us.