Dry season

The agricultural land here is drying out.  This winter's rains and snow were not enough to help raise the water table that is increasingly being lowered by the deep wells used to pump irrigation water up to the fields. Green beans have withered. The tomato crop will be minimal. The local families who have traditionally bottled great quantities of tomatoes to make "sugo" during the winter are already planning to rely on the cans available in the supermarkets.

The wheat, an early crop, was successfully harvested before the long hot days began in earnest.





















The apricot trees have reveled in this year's weather. Never before have I seen them so laden with fruit and the fruit so sweet and juicy.

 













Ah, but it is hard to pick apricots by hand!  Nowadays most people rely on store-bought fruit. If only it were the tradition to eat "apricot sugo" in the winter months.  Mmm.  That would be some pasta!

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Beginning

Beginning?

It has taken three years for me to move beyond the title.
Three years of turning ....
of arrivals and departures,

of dawns and sunsets.
of summers and winters,
of equinoxes and solstices.

A few days ago, already a month after the summer solstice of 2012, in the heathery-brackeny-grassy understory of the oak forest, my eye was caught by an unusual splash of color:

Thanks to the bird who brought this delightful new inhabitant into the neighborhood!

The stems now remain, and the leaves.  Next spring I'll be watching for the new sprout and hoping for blossoms in July 2013.

That will be one annual turn.

And the daily turns? Sunrise, noon, sunset, moonrise, moonset.
Each hour slants the light at ever-changing angles through clouds, branches, twigs and windows.

Like the light, my attention plays and rambles.
Yet, like my eye, it is caught by angles and perspectives, by moments in conversations with friends, by items on the internet, by pages of the many books that have found their way to my home down through the years.

And so, to capture or dance with some of these moments, this will be a rambling blog.


Note 1. A rambling song from an early chapter in my life: "The Gypsy Rover"  (O.K., O.K., he was roving, not rambling...) and sung here by Liam Clancy

Note 2. A song about books: "Four Little Sailors" by Bill Staines.


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