THE SEASONS

Moon over Durand August 27, 2012
photo~Jo Heroux

Don't know how it happens

Nor do I know if it matters at all

But this night of a full moon 

Brings me back, back before the fall.

The fall, falls
Leaves are all over the ground

They aren't bright, they aren't alive

They're just there.

It's not lovely, it's death all around.

Tho' the chill in the air brings me down

The shimmering light warms my soul

It's that ball of bright light 

Which fools me, if only tonight.

Still the darkness fills every pore

It seeps into my battling self

I can't keep it at bay

I can't fight it off anymore.

Fall is death for all things that I crave

My flowers, the trees and the grass

The pool is not open nor sparkling

My bones will stay chilled until May.

Closing eyes to remember my summer

Wrapping tighter inside my big robe

Seeing sunshine and blooms and the water

Getting through this is oh, such a bummer.

Winter comes and it goes and I live through it

I even smile at the first sign of snow

It cleans otherwise nasty browness

But I don't venture out to feel it.

Spring arrives and my heart feels lighter

I clean up and I plant and I putter

I open that pool with great vigor

Every cell of my being is brighter.

Waking to hot, humid days

My eyes are covered with shades

Coffee on the deck

Hummers feeding and chirping

I'm alive again, I feel again. 
The water glistens again

I am warm. I am happy. 
I am ME in Summer.

Jo

SUMMER

I survive every winter just waiting for the spring signs. The first little spring green to pop its head out of the snow or the frozen ground makes me smile and gain hope that yet another summer will be coming. Some days in February and March, I doubt spring will ever get here let alone summer. This past year, that early March warm up was so welcomed by this winter hating human. Two weeks of superb weather right in the middle of what is usually my least favorite time of the year. I was sooooo happy and got sooooo much yard work done and such a big jump on my season. I wasn't even crushed by the return of colder weather which followed. It was a lovely break in the bleak.

Now summer is nearly here, calendar wise. In my heart of hearts, it IS here. It's warm and we have more sun than clouds and I can sit outside and breathe anytime I want. This is what I thrive on.

Yes, I love swimming and I love flowers and I adore the warmth. I love the green grass and the smells of summer. The birds singing or chirping and the hummers humming around the feeders and stopping mid-flight to look me in the eye and then dart away. The butterflies flitting from flower to flower and looking the Oriole feeders and Hummingbird feeders over and passing on to the next flower bloom for a sip, all make me smile.

The kids bring their kids more often in the summer to swim and cook a dog or burger and share a few hours with us. I love that more than anyone without grand children can even imagine. Splashing around with those babies is what life is all about for this old gal.

I am completely solar powered. When the sun shines, so do I. I get things done and I am just smiling all the time. I don't mind the heat and I don't mind the humidity because for me, this is so preferential to being cold and seeing gloom when I look out the window. Weeding the flowers, cleaning the pool and watering everything is not work, it's love. Then sitting and admiring the yard, the pool and everyone who shares this world with us, that's the payoff. There is nothing about summer that I don't like. Even the bugs and animals who share our space are okay with me. I'd prefer that they stay out of the pool, but now and then one of them commits suicide and I am the one to discover the body and remove it from my pristine water.  Not my favorite thing to do, but it must be done and I'm elected.




The raccoon that insists on emptying my bird feeder in two nights visits is a bit annoying, but he is also very cute and very friendly.  If I open the window and nicely ask him to leave, he just looks around the feeder and shovels 'handfuls' of seed while looking right in my eyes.  He is not afraid of me, at all. I call him Charlie. He is now almost a pet. Hoping he doesn't bring a gang. There were three, he's the only one remaining. I think he's a thug 'coon and has run off the others.  I guess I'll just feed him.

Here is the best shot I got of Charlie because it's so dark when he comes to visit and I had to shoot this one through the screen...but there he is!  Caught white-handed!  Little stinker.



(He will stand with his feet in the lowest feeder and look in the window while he eats. While I say, "Seriously Charlie? Are you going to empty my feeder?"  he just stares at me while shoveling.)

I find my entire life is just better from April through September.  Then in October I begin to feel the veil of fall leading to winter covering me. It's not something I can ignore. It's real and it's strong. The best I can do is fight inside my head day in and day out and once in a while, give in to it and just be sad and unhappy for a day or two. Sun deprivation is difficult, but manageable and I have suffered with it for years. I do not have one single day of that in summer and I am oh, so grateful for that.

I love, love no really  L O V E  every single day of  S U M M E R.

Here is the latest flower area Mike thought I needed. Last week-end was dedicated to this.

Two purple climatis' one yellow rose bush and a million bells tinytunie in the middle.

And three solar birds ~ just cuz they're so cute.






This is just one of a million wonderful moments of kids in the pool....Hailee, Jennifer and Chloe just hanging and posing for Grandma Jo and her camera!

Nothing beats a day of kids and water!





Jo

The Changing Leaves of Fall

This is, without question, my least favorite time of year.  Living in Michigan means fall can begin anytime from the middle of August or as late as the end of October. Doesn't matter to me when it starts, I dislike every single minute of it.  First it makes the trees all turn fiery bright beautiful colors which most people love to photograph and make long drives just to admire this natural splendor. 


I find it heart-wrenching to look at the fall colors.  

They are the signal that the leaves are dying and the trees are about to hibernate.  All of the beautiful flowers of summer, except my giant marigolds, are dying slow daily deaths.  Some will be back in the Spring and others are at the end of their life span.  

Everything dies in the fall.  



The pool has to be closed soon and I will be looking at the pool cover outside my kitchen window for the next 5 months.  No pretty blue water...no vacuum swimming around freely...no Jake jumping in to fetch his toy.  He will, however be running across the cover because he apparently likes the sound it makes.  I do not.


The air is cooler.  The sun shines less.  The grass stops growing. 


While I embrace change in general in my life, I do not embrace the changing seasons. I am a summer girl.  Solar powered. Energized by the heat and humidity.  Reaffirmed by floating or swimming around the pool.  Creatively inspired by the grilling on the deck and watching my carefully tended flowers bloom and grow.  Motivated by the morning cotd ritual (coffee on the deck).  

Fall leads to the cold dead winter. The holidays and birthdays of October, November and December keep me going and then we  hit January, February and March.  UGH   I begin to perk up as March ends because mid-April I will open the pool again. Spring isn't my favorite, but at least from there I can see the birthing of summer.  


So to all the football fans, all the cool weather fans...I say, "Please enjoy YOUR season.  Just don't ask me to enjoy it with you!  I'll be hibernating until the holidays."


That's it.  Fall sucks.


Jo