I am learning to be grateful for wildflowers that appear on their own around our yard. Goldenrod, asters, black-eyed Susans are blooming in abundance now, providing a feast for bees, and a bouquet I brought inside to fill a favorite pitcher in our living room. I like the colors and frowsy informality, the look of just-picked serendipity.
Getting older, I realize that I am no longer so interested in gardening, no longer interested in keeping anything pristine, fed, trimmed, weeded, maintained for constant flowers from early summer until frost. Unplanted six-packs of annuals sit on the ground off our porch. They were to fill flowerpots and “holes” among the perennials. They were watered, but left as they were when it got too hot for me to want to be outside. I just got lazy.
I love snowdrops appearing in increasing drifts every spring. Crocuses, scilla, daffodils, anemones, myrtle, lily of the valley. The rhododendron hedge fills our backyard along the edge of the woods every May. I’ll leave the iris and daylilies outside the kitchen; they seem to manage on their own.
I hope that next spring, when I start enthusing about my garden plans for the coming season, that some of my readers will remind me that I said I hate gardening.
Sunday afternoon, Judy Merion gave a piano concert at the West Tisbury library. The room was completely filled with people, and soon with sound. The “Goldberg Variations” is one of my favorite pieces of music, one I listen to often, but I have never seen it performed live. Now that I have, I will never forget seeing Judy’s fingers flying across the piano keys, her hands crossing over again and again, making the most incredible music. The Schubert sonata she played for her second piece was another virtuoso performance. Live music performed by a talented musician is a rare gift to be savored. My thanks to the library and to Judy.
This week at the library there will be a meeting of a newly formed model railroad group, led by longtime enthusiast Rick Fischer, on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 3 pm. All are welcome to check it out. Sunday afternoon at 2:15, Heather Massey and Joyce Maxner will host a Death Cafe. Tuesday morning, 11 am to noon, MVRHS Early Education students will provide childcare for parents who work from home; they will have a quiet space to work, with access to Wi-Fi, and library resources. A Soil Health Test workshop will meet on Friday, Oct. 10, at 10:30 am, with Sam Corcoran from the UMass Extension Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Lab.
It’s still dark in the morning when Abby gets me up. Breakfast is more important than sleep, and darkness is irrelevant. I’m getting accustomed to the dark mornings and earlier evenings, finding myself already turning on the outside light by 6 o’clock before Mike comes in.
Mike has been working on our woodpile for the coming winter. Logs are neatly piling up in lengthening rows. Kindling, too, saved through the year from cut ends of whatever he has worked on all year.
Much as I observe the birds and insects and unexpected plants, I observe the change of light, the changes as our woods will lose their leaves soon, then change again come spring. I treasure our seasons in anticipation, one, and then the next, and so on.
