Thoreau – Deanna Greens and Garden Art

“Autumn came, with wind and gold.” ~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Ahhh! The change! The weather changed! We have had weeks of hot summer temperatures, and little rain to boot. Wondering if autumn is ever coming?! Early morning of August 30 I thought I felt the air change. But if it did it was short lived and back to full blazing summer until now. Today is officially the autumn equinox, and it feels like it! Autumn clothing like jeans and a 3/4-length shirt worn. And the flavors of autumn are on the menu. I am celebrating by preparing a stuffed squash dinner for this evening. My daughter gave me a big-sized homegrown spaghetti squash last month, but it has been too hot to prepare an oven dish. If all goes well with this new recipe, it will be added to my What a Dish Recipes page tomorrow. Dean doesn’t mind me experimenting with our dinner! Shhh! Besides it is another recipe for another book I have in the making.

“Flowers are but colored leaves, fruits but ripe ones. The edible part of most fruits is, as the physiologist says, ‘the parenchyma or fleshy tissue of the leaf,’ of which they are formed.” ~ Henry David Thoreau, Autumnal Tints

Hot tea graced my morning after my swim at the Y pool and a writing lesson with an online literary group. Participants were encouraged to pick a few of our favorite authors to dwell on. Henry David Thoreau is one of mine. Words for poems seem to be on my mind these days. A silly poem using plays on words came out yesterday. Another one is festering. While in my atelier I gaze out the front window and see the ruby-throated hummingbirds are still feeding at our feeders. We could have them with us for another 3 weeks depending on the temperatures of the autumn air. This mild 60’s weather is so perfect for outdoor work and play. Much colder our tiny, feathered friends will move further south. Every week for months Dean has been faithful to make the sugar water, then cleaning and refilling the feeders for our entertaining friends. “To everything there is a season,” the book of Ecclesiastes tells us. The first frost comes soon after the hummingbirds migrate south.

“Perchance amid these groves might arise at last a new school of philosophy or poetry. It lasts all through September.” ~ Henry David Thoreau, Autumnal Tints

What magnificent spring weather we have relished in these past three months in Missouri. In my recollection it has been many years since we have experienced three full months of spring. Typically, in these parts of Missouri, it is a long winter with a rushed four weeks of spring, then right into the heat of summer. According to the weather forecasters, that heat of the summer comes this weekend. With this true spring has come thunderstorms and tornadoes. The weather has a bipolar nature. The damaging winds wreaked havoc in the St. Louis area more than once. The city has not seen such devastation in over 50 years. Recovery is day by day.

Dean and I have a huge, 50 – 60-year-old tulip poplar tree in our backyard which became victim to a pop-up thunderstorm a couple of evenings ago. It lost three medium to big-sized branches which landed between our house and the neighbor church building. Believe me, there are plenty of other branches for its survival. Today, I spent about an hour picking up small branches in the backyard and found a few in the front yard. My injured back only allows so much bending over, and it starts talking to me. I stopped before it started screaming at me. Dean has his various sized saws in use, binding up the large branches cut to 5-foot length as required by our trash company, and the smaller branches going in our lawn refuse totes and lawn bags.

A June respite comes with the mild temperature days. Some resting, meditating, reading, and writing this month. I have to thank God we are safe after each storm. Damaging gutters and roofs can be fixed and clean-up long, but Dean and I are safe and are generally in good health. I facilitated a writers’ workshop in Clarksville, Tennessee earlier this month. The six ladies gleaned much from this workshop where my co-facilitator and I emphasized the importance of observing with all seven senses. Yes, there are seven senses identified now. The traditional five are sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch. The two others are vestibular, associated with movement and balance, and proprioception allows a person to associate one’s own body with space. These last two are related to touch. I will mention there is a spiritual sense, which would make eight senses total for those who are believers.

“A comfortable breezy June morning … The clover is now in its glory. Whole fields are rosed with it, mixed with sorrel, and looking deeper than it is. It makes fields look luxuriant which are really thinly clad. The air is full of its sweet fragrance… These are the clover days.” Henry Thoreau

Thoreau wrote several lines in his journal on June 19, 1852, mentioning many other types of vegetation such as the crops of corn and potatoes, berries on the vines with anticipation of their ripening, even mildew and fungus he writes about. Several birds are included in his journal. He doesn’t miss any of the details and uses all his senses in his writings. Midway in this journal entry Thoreau mentions clover in three sentences and concludes with “the clover days” of June. I have seen clover growing prolifically this month. The honeybees love clover, which makes for healthy gardens. The bees will come if the chemicals are not used. Folks, keep it organic like in Thoreau’s time. Keep all those senses stimulated. And journal your experiences.