Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

I resisted the temptation to bolt. It was seventy-seven degrees outside–a touch of summer. I thought I’d go out and drive to the River. I then decided rather to walk around my property to see what I could observe.

The little creek in the back was almost dry. I really do not know where our toads that appear at our front door come from. Where do the polliwogs swim?

I noticed a patch of yellow and white daffodils in the middle of the woods. The white ones were a larger variety. Whatever possessed someone to plant them there.

I turned over an ten by six inch long moss covered log hoping to spot a salamander but no luck. Twice over the years we discovered four inch long orange colored salamanders in the yard.  I know so little about them.

I noted two white hyacinths were blooming and I dropped to the ground to smell them. I had always loved their fragrance.

The raspberry and blackberry bushes were just starting to sprout. It will still be awhile until the white flowers come.  And even longer before I pick the berries.

Then Lynelle will bake scrumptious berry pies that simply got gobbled up almost as fast as they are baked.

I wondered whether the Black eyed Susans which my wife planted along our hundred foot long picket fence will come up.  I thought they would look neat there.  It remain to be seen.

Every thing in its own time.  I returned to our house.  I will go out again but will not travel by car anywhere and see again what I could observe in my own backyard.

Tags: berries, berry pies, black-eyed susan's, blackberry bushes, daffodils, flowers, in my own backyard, little creek, nature, orange salamander, picket fence, polliwogs, raspberry bushes, river, salamander, toads, touch of summer, white hyacinths, woods
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I was looking out my back door window and just thinking.  A large section of our front yard no longer has grass and for a short time my wife was considering laying down sod.  I really do not care.  I always felt American’s obsession with having a large neatly manicured lawn was and is an exercise in futility.  I want a garden not a lawn.  In fact, a landscaper is going to help us with developing that.

The back yard is another story:  most of it is wild.  Toads appear at our doorstep every year–all sizes from tiny to humongous.  They are attracted to the bugs that come to the porch light.

There is a small creek in the back–most of the time just a trickle. You never know when a box turtle will appear.  We also saw wonderfully orange colored salamanders at least twice.  Rabbits play in the undergrowth.

I do not want to cultivate this area.  I love not knowing what I will see next, what unusual bird or whatever comes my way.

I love the wild.  It gives me a sense of the mysterious, the unknown, a feeling I love.  That is why I won’t cultivate the back of our property.

Last year after living here for over four years, to my delight and amazement I discovered a large patch of wild raspberries on the far corner of my property.  And I love raspberries.  I even picked enough berries for two pies.

I do not know exactly what lives there but I am always expectant when I peer out my kitchen window wondering what will come along next.  It is out of my control.  That is the way I want it.  This is one plot of land that will grow wild.  I rejoice in it.

Tags: bird-watching, birds, box turtle, bugs, creek, exercise in futility, garden, God, grass, landscape, lawn, manicured lawn, my wife, nature, rabbit, raspberries, raspberry pie, salamander, the unknown, toads, wild, wild land, wildlife
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