Patricia Garry

More Hope – Three Women on Fracking

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Driving to a meeting one morning a couple of weeks ago, the topic on The Diane Rehm Show was fracking, with, as usual, 3 experts from various sides of the issue presenting their views.

What made it great was that all three were women! The pro, the con, the scientific points of view were all female. I trust Diane and her crew to have done their best, but fairly often – and especially on politics – all the voices are male. This was a treat, not that I agreed with all of them!

One thing it says – besides the fact that there are women engineers and scientists, and they are now getting jobs – is that companies are getting politically smarter – put women out front on a contentious issue, and the conversation will be more civil, less strident. Folk will not talk over one another.

That behavior of putting women on the front lines is also a bit sneaky – but what the heck. It helps lower the yelling, and we are all more likely to here each other.

Made for a fun morning drive.

In and Out of the Rain for Passover

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This was the day for shopping for the last of the Passover Seder groceries (we celebrate Everything) – and thunderstorms were popping up all over the place, all during the day. Not on my plan, but clearly on the Rain Goddess’ schedule. Then there was a break, I left the office, drove through just a bit of rain to Remke’s – the best kosher for Passover place, as many folk have taught me over the years, arriving just as the rain really began to pour. I was inside by that time.

And by the time I was finished with my purchasing and exploring – it was over! Just starting again now. Life is so fun – and so good!

The Current State of the Back Yard

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The deer are present much of the time, in 2 and 3s, boys together, girls together. The bucks have finished shedding their antlers, some of the does must be pregnant, but it’s hard to tell. They are all looking scruffy, not so much skinny from the hard winter – but scruffy from shedding their brownish-gray winter coats in clumps and tufts, while underneath the beautiful bright brown awaits.

This is the first winter, hard though it was, that I saw chipmunks every few days. Mostly before, they go down at the end of October, pop up late February to mid March. Those little tails, sticking straight up, can’t be missed, especially when they are moving fast across the garden. They have really messed up the front yard, by building tunnels underground out there, rather than just in the stone walls.

Lots of birds as always – some migrators are showing up – and the cowbirds, who usurp other people’s nests for their eggs. This is flicker and woodpecker time. The many finches are eating like crazy. The barred owls are talking to each other all night long – they are loving this full moon. And my cardinals are so heart breakingly beautiful.

Living in the woods is such a precious gift. Aaaaahhhhh.

Backyard Update

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What a winter it was! It’s great that we’ve lived through another one – and it’s definitely over!

When the snow began to fall, the snowdrops were already pushing up. Then we didn’t get to see them again, until a week and a half ago – and they were fully up, and already blooming under all that snow. Amazing. The beautiful tiny yellow winter aconite were in full bud, and blossomed within three days. Near them, the buttercups – same color, different leaves and petals, are already coming up. They will bloom about the time the aconite disappears.

Plus the hyacinth, crocus, and daffodils are pushing up fast.

And, even with all that cold, chipmunks were every now and then racing around the yard, those little tails sticking straight up. Many is the year I’ve seen no chipmunks from late October until mid-March. Every one else was out and about, too – all the birds, owls, The Hawk. I have not seen a coyote or fox for quite a while.

But – a week or so ago, before the snow left – I looked out the window and saw a Wolf. Truly. Its coloring and fur were not like the winter coyote, and its rump was definitely not coyote. And the many colored hairs in its fur look just like the picture of the wolf I keep attached to my Tibetan calendar – dirty yellow, gray, white, brown and black. He was very self-possessed, calm, wandering through and looking around. When I went out later to look at the snow – that paw print was huge.

Thank you for walking by, Wolf / Teacher. Namaste.

Today’s Plan

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My plan for today had been to do a lot of writing, nose to the grindstone sort of stuff. Not very Gemini-ish. : > And then it turned out to be the first Sunday in spring – a day when my feet could be outside in the grass without shoes, socks or any kind of boots. And I got to hang the laundry outside for the first time since early February. (The last two winters, I had not missed any chances to put the laundry out on the porch railings to dry – this year I missed basically a whole month.)

It was also the right day to take the plastic off the exhaust fan, and off the air conditioner and to put the humidifier away until late fall. As well as to start planning Passover, Patrick’s graduation, and both son Brian and I hitting milestone birthdays this spring.

So I was making my lists of all sorts. Now, with what remains of the day, I can get back to the happy writing – after I finish organizing my tax info for my accountant!

The Snow White Yard

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We have had almost no snow this winter. And now, today, we have almost doubled our numbers. We had 5 inches through February 15, and on this day, the 16th, we’ve had about 5 more.

I’d be a lot happier if it were not so cold, but it is what it is. Looks to me likely that by next Monday, we’ll be in a more normal range – and hopefully, we’ll be on our way out of winter! In the meantime, the birds need to be fed.

And my hope for the morning is that I can drive down the drive, and then put salt in the tire tracks, which the predicted sunshine will melt, so that I can get back in and up the driveway.

I’m hoping the Snow Goddess is listening!

Imbolc – The First Day of Spring

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These early days of February have picked up all kinds of notions – like that groundhog thing. (By the way, the groundhog in New York did not see his shadow – I’m going with that one!) And like St. Blaise’s Day and Candlemas. Sometimes St. Brigid’s Day is thrown in.

Actually, if there ever was a St. Brigid, it was likely a pick at random, so St. could be put in front of the Goddess Brigid’s name on all those sacred wells, sacred fires, sacred spaces all over Ireland. Brigid is a Triple Goddess, the first Trinity – Maiden, Mother, Crone.

In the ancient Irish calendars, these days are Imbolc, the start of spring, the days, as the saying goes, ‘when the seed stirs in the earth’. To me, seeing spring starting today means that we see the whole of spring – we don’t start to pay attention in the middle with the Equinox.

We see the tips of the snowdrops peeking up, the first bit of the daffodil leaves, buds swelling on the forsythia, more warmer days mixed in with the very cold ones, more sunshine showing up, more daylight. And by the time spring ends, on May 1 at Beltane, the first real heat begins. So it all makes much more sense to me this way.

Happy Spring, Everyone!

Update on the Goldfinches

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My attention has really been drawn to the goldfinches at the thistle feeder these past few days. They are such a bright yellow in the summer – the males- and then in the winter they become a dreary brown – except for the black stripes against the brown wings. A clear marker.

They have been eating way more than usual for this time of year, and there seem to be more of them than usual as well. Looking at them yesterday (my office window is just a few feet from their long skinny feeder), I saw a yellow-ish color on their chests that I have not noticed before in previous winters.

They seem to be ravenous. They have always been picky – all the time I’ve been here, they have never eaten mixed feed / small seeds. Only nyjer thistle. Now they are gobbling it down. All this feeding, early yellow on their chests. Could spring be coming?

The Snowdrops Are Coming!

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Wow! Unlike last winter, when the snowdrops were buried in the snow until roughly late February – they are already pushing the tips of their little leaves out of the ground!

This day was very much a late winter / early spring day. Lows in the 30s, the high around 50. The birds were chirping and discussing their nesting plans, the squirrels were not quite as anxious about food as usual. The deer were also not as anxious – they only cleaned all the seed off the concrete bench just once during the day.

Keeping my fingers crossed!