Christmas Garden

 

If you take a look at the video on YouTube of this snowstorm scene you will see toward the end, two birds fly out of the birch tree, land on a sunflower stalk, and reach around to grab a seed. I was fascinated because there were several birds doing this for hours. I brought one sunflower in and roasted the seeds. They are delicious, but in the shell a great deal of work!

On Christmas Day, this to me was a nativity scene, the cycle of life, watching the birds find food remaining in the snow covered garden, planting seeds that may germinate months from now in a new garden, the year coming to a close, another starting, watching life continue in the middle of the snowstorm, the bent over flower heads, like prayer-sayers... Merry Christmas

Frosty Rain

 

Time races by and the summer seems like a distant but pleasant memory that slipped out of reach like a retreating tide. It is the time for opening a jar of relish made in the fall, butternut squash soup, adding another log to the wood stove, and watching the birds who have found the bowed heads of the sunflower stalks praying for Spring.

It is a time for dreaming and planning projects, praying that the snow blower starts, and marveling at the oasis of life in the barn, and the dried hay that keeps the creatures fed and warm, and smells of other seasons.

Kennebunkport Dock Square Snow Fall

 

It is the morning after Solstice and this picture was taken in Dock Square, Kennebunkport, after stopping into a local candy shop. I almost never consider shopping in Dock Square, because it feels like something only tourists do, but it felt more like the holiday yesterday morning walking around the smal shops with the snow falling. It reminded me of the first time I drove through Dock Square in the 80's and was captivated by the little bridge, the boats, the smell of salt water, and the sounds of gulls. It is easy to understand why it is a favorite destination for tourists.

I am not one of those who is at the beach, surfs or fishes on a regular basis, but when I am near the water, I wonder how it is that people can live away from it? Watching the snow fall on the shops, the overcast morning light, the smell of coffee coming from somewhere, it felt like the gentle start of something new, the yer beginning again, being at that point where you realize that every end carries the seeds of a beginning.