down a lazy river

paddling
in good company
on a warm and
sunny spring day
before the black flies
arrive

white pine and company

I added fifty White Pines to the neighbourhood to help fill in the holes left by canker Maple,  Ash threatened by Emerald Ash borer, Elm killed by drought and Dutch Elm disease, Butternut killed by root Nematodes  etc... The Maples are particularly bad around the meltwater springs and streams and the row of Pines that were planted across the road seem to be doing very well even in the spring floodwater. The Sugar Maples, which are the predominant tree germinated last year for the first time in thirty years and Ash is the predominant in-fill species so the plan is to encourage the transition from hard wood to conifer. I have noticed that hard wood seedlings predominate in a local pine plantation. The original White Pine and White Oak was logged off the area.

a painting to match

sun setting on a season

an earth-day dusting

frightening 

after weeks of epoxy curing temperatures

there is snow on the ground this

earth-day

blue kohosh and wild leaks and

the first violet-blue of the 

periwinkle winking

"just you wait"

sprinkled with white

as portraits of woodpiles

depict architecture 

at it's foundation

photographed by 

garden gnomes

in sheep's clothing

being able to clearly see

through the doorway of 

imagination

into the future 

with new pine and cedar

friends and 

winter lighting 

primavera

melting

a consequence of the season

written with a fountain pen

sitting exhausted in the sun and 

enjoying the pleasures of

melting snow:

in the sound of wind and

the yelling of crows

yelling three or four times                                             

of their comings and goings 

and vultures soaring 

just above tree-tops

who silently join the chorus

and who remembers writing

with a fountain pen and

from where did the 

words flow from

of wringer washer

and bringing in

the first laundry 

of the season of

dry and warm 

not frozen

in order

not rushed

shirts flat over trousers 

and socks now in pairs  

and to the stories 

in mends and in darns

with paint punctuation

and who remembers

making fires to stay warm

standing there drying

your hair by the stove

then in cast-iron

cooking a meal

while thanking the trees

in their native tongue

the snow melting quickly

going up with the wind

the dripping reminders

of maple syrup and

gutters to mend and

sculpting the run-off 

planes in the lane

and sculpting 

fluid dynamics towards 

the laminar flow

of a boat in the water

sometime again 

as the treetops begin 

 to collide in a clatter 

tracing  patterns of wind

 dry leaves tumble

from surface to air

in melt-time

with the yelling of crows

on in-blowing grey and

on and off rain

to walk in the forest

in a blue and white sky

the beech leaves still clinging

translucent from golden

wind chimes in a chorus 

as trees begin creaking

and

where have all the 

wild turkeys come from

long hard winter

if you've noticed

some thing's wrong

long time gone

reduced in the edit

with mouse on the sketch-book

to digitally dull

with rings in our noses

protected from elements

ignoring the singing 

of our mother

nature