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by Carol Bossard

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Yo-Yoing February

Yo-Yoing February

Due to that recent warm spell, my enthusiastic little crocus bulbs are putting forth green shoots. And this week, we have another warm day or two to encourage them. Has anyone seen skunk cabbage peeking out of swamps yet? My former drive to work took me through swampy areas, so I always noticed those green-y/ purple-y, pointed, smelly leaves. You wouldn’t want them in a bouquet, but they are a visible sign of spring.  Spring, on the calendar, is about a month away. But Easter is early this year

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Winter Angst

Winter Angst

We’ve had snowfall nearly every night --- another half to three-inches on top of our since- Christmas snow.  This morning there was NO new snow.   There is a slight change in the air, and some of the birds are singing spring-ish songs.  I’ve heard from one or two observers that a few robins have emerged from the swamps and are out there conning people into thinking spring has come.  I expect they won’t stay around long; finding worms beneath our banks of snow will be impossible.  But yesterday’s

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Waiting And Watching

Waiting And Watching

The season of Advent is here; a time of preparation, waiting and expectancy.  It feels as though, not that long ago, I was putting away the Christmas decorations from last year; the CDs, the bright ornaments, the door wreath.    But we picked up the new evergreen wreath yesterday, made by S-VE FFA students, and also a lovely pink poinsettia. The time of many holiday celebrations is surely with us. I’m a little puzzled by what seems to be jealous clutching of the Christmas holiday and the r

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Turning Seasons And Decades

Turning Seasons And Decades

Here in the northeast, we are well into Fall.  Good weather lasted long this year, so we really can’t complain when the season starts being seasonable.  Our cover crops never made it onto the gardens, but the potatoes are in storage and many of the weeds are pulled.   Kerm has replaced the broken rails in the garden fence and repaired the dog pen where the bear broke through in July.   One ursine youngster returned last week on his fall trek, but managed to get around the yard without breaking a

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Transitions

Transitions

How about this?  This year’s last essay on the last day of the year!  It is a transition time!  Betwixt and Between!  Transitioning reminds me of the Star Trek method of travel.  Teleporting, however, provides rapid transit from one place to another while this year has required mental and emotional transitions at a slightly slower pace.  As a comment for 2020 ---- I’ll just quote Charlie Brown:  “ARRRRGGGGGHHH”!  And 2021 -----will hopefully be a TA-DA as we land on our feet! Actually

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Transitions

Transitions

My favorite time of the year is drifting in with these late summer days leading into fall.  Perhaps it is due to so many years of school beginnings, but now has always seemed to me, a more appropriate onset for a new year than January.  Many cultures back in history have agreed; as harvests ended, a new year began.  Instead of snow and ice, we could look forward to weeks of blue skies and pleasant weather with, hopefully, a few more rainy days than this summer provided.  It’s time for being outs

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

The Sky Is Falling

The Sky Is Falling

Does anyone remember, back in your childhood, the tale of “Chicken Little”, who panicked from what he experienced in his limited little world, and ran to tell everyone that the sky was falling?    Of course, the sky remained right where it was supposed to be. Today, something similar happens regularly; on the evening news, on our phones, on Facebook, in conversations.  The tone of the message from all channels and media, is that the sky is falling again and again.  We hear opinions and projectio
The Good Days Of November

The Good Days Of November

November, the month of golden topaz gem stones and heaps of topaz leaves fallen from trees. November is a month of birthdays; my husband’s is today and one son’s is at the end of the month, with several family members in between.  Kerm’s birthday means strawberry shortcake tonight. That is his choice over any cake I could bake.   My eldest brother shared my husband’s November 3d birthday.  Kerm was born about the time Frank went to war in WWII but regardless of their age difference, they both ag

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

The Glowing Season

The Glowing Season

We are in the last quarter of the year; October, whose birth stone is the fire opal and flower is the marigold, takes us into mid-fall.  My flowers still in bloom are chocolate eupatorium and monkshood/wolfbane/aconite (ref. Harry Potter).  Leaves on trees are turning, days are crisper and darkness comes too soon.  It is the season of glowing.  We were recently away for a few days on Cape Cod.  Our sons and their families joined us to de-stress and find a change of scenery.  We went on a whale w

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

The Gifts Of Summer

The Gifts Of Summer

Is the aroma from my kitchen wending its way out?  Do you smell cinnamon---- chocolate----orange?  This is cookie-baking week ---- a variety of cookies for that family gathering I mentioned in the last essay.  Pineapple cookies, ginger cookies, chocolate cookies and some melt-in-your-mouth buttery nut cookies.  One thing I’ve noticed is that the cost of ingredients for cookies have risen a lot, and so desserts are actually as valuable as restaurants have been trying to make us believe all along.

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Stars, Music, And Snowy Hills

Stars, Music, And Snowy Hills

Starry skies --- crisp nights ----- occasional snow feathering down ----sleds, sleighs and church bells.  That is what all the beautiful winter cards depict.  In real life, we often have what the meteorologists call “graupel” plus sleet and freezing rain, with a little mud underfoot, making slush, rather like what we’re getting here today ---and tomorrow.   The cards keep us looking for that bit of winter magic.  I wish that I could find a better use for the many beautiful cards, especially hand

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Springing Ahead Slowly

Springing Ahead Slowly

It’s March……Little rivulets of joy     Begin flowing down stones,       Through the mosses         Out from the tree roots.          They’ve been there all the time,          just hidden down under                       Where they’ve quietly added sparkle and glow                  To the ice, and crunch to the snow.                         There’s a warm glow over the earth                   In the setting sun………*   This is one stanza of a

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring Has Sprung!

Easter is just past though one of my favorite lilting, happy songs says: “Every morning is Easter morning from now on….”.  It was a most unusual Easter morning which I will, perhaps speak of in a later essay.  It included the death of a long-time friend and member of our congregation and I am still processing that. To celebrate Earth Day, I’m thinking of planting peas in a pot.  It is a bit too early for our clay soil to be warm and welcoming; seeds planted in the ground would likely rot in

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Spooks, Saints & Soup!

Spooks, Saints & Soup!

Leaves are turning all shades of brown, bronze, gold and scarlet ---- and falling ---- falling ---wafting down into crunchy heaps---- and there’s a morning chill in the air.   As the spooky time of Halloween nears and the weather grows less balmy, our daylight hours will shorten with the ceasing of DST next month.  I moan and groan about this every year since, when the darkness closes in, my mind tells me it is time to cease labors and go to bed.  Five o’clock is a bit early for that message.  T

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Sorting out And Keeping Close

Sorting out And Keeping Close

Easter is past and a lovely time it was.  Now Spring lies before us with so many things to do it makes the head spin.  Because of the mild weather and all the melting snow, things have greened-up nicely.  Our daylilies are up several inches, daffodils on a south-facing bank are blooming and the deer have stopped coming down   Apparently, their food sources on the hill are sufficient for their needs.  Turkeys have separated into flocks and are less frequent visitors.  I expect the hens may be sit

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Something Old, Something New

Something Old, Something New

Remember that old song (well, depending on your age, some of you may not!) ---- “What are you doin’ New Year’s, New Year’s Eve?”*  Ella Fitzgerald, Andy Williams, Margaret Whiting and more recently --- Harry Connick Jr. ---- were some of the notables who made this song popular.  2021’s last day is tomorrow and how will you spend the Eve?  How have you spent New Year’s Eves in the past?  We have had all sorts of “eves” in our lives; parties, watch-night services, quiet evenings at home, and one s

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Sing Out Happiness

Sing Out Happiness

Happy Birthday to my turning-seventeen today granddaughter!!!  We’re sending virtual gifts of joy and delight, courage and wisdom and wish we could send a yummy birthday cake! It is also, according to the Monday Morning Epistle from the Burdett Presbyterian church, “White Tee Shirt Day” “Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk Day” and “Peppermint Patty Day”.  And elsewhere I heard it was “Make A New Friend Day”.  So this is obviously a day worth singing about! Hasn’t February been fun so far?  Of

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Shaking The Spider's Web

Shaking The Spider's Web

by Carol Bossard  June, the month of weddings, Father’s Day, Flag Day, making hay and weeding gardens.  Days are generally warm and nights are still fairly cool.  Grass grows overnight.  But of course, one never knows what will happen with our yoyo weather patterns.  The news that both poles have moved thirteen feet is a bit disconcerting; that’s the width of my kitchen.  I suppose, considering the size of the earth and the vastness of space that 13 feet isn’t all that much.  But it is well

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Sensing Spring

Sensing Spring

The arrival of March is always encouraging even though I know that we can get snow-fall half-way into April.   And as one of our sons said: “The way this winter has been, we’ll probably get two weeks or so of spring and then a blizzard will hit us.”  Could happen!  But it just seems that when March comes ---- especially with the onset of Daylight Savings Time ---- spring cannot be far away. The old saying is that if March roars in like a lion it will bring an early spring for it will go out like

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

School And Life

School And Life

“The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round….” ,                                 “School days, school days, dear old Golden Rule days….”                                                                                                                        “A B C D E F G……” Those well-known tunes remind us that it’s nearly time for classes to begin again in NYS.  In some places, public school kids are already slamming locker doors, treading the long halls, and taking in the aroma o

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Revolving Beds And Lemonade Punch

Revolving Beds And Lemonade Punch

Our recent spring-like weather has most of us who garden looking through our seeds and perusing the plant catalogs once again ---- just to make sure we have all that we need.  Last week, the turkeys stopped coming down so often and I think the deer didn’t come at all.  Of course, another snow-fall, and they will all be back.  We probably are not quite done with wintry weather, but soon, soon!  Someone (not sure who) said, “The first day of spring and the first spring day are quite different even

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Remembering... Remembering

Remembering... Remembering

How wonderful is the month of May?  Its thirty-one days are all too short, even as February’s twenty-eight days are far too long.  It is a month of moderate temperatures and new growth everywhere — flora and fauna.  A perfect picture of May would be a spotted fawn peering out from a mélange of ferns, trilliums and dogwood.   There are so many shades of green as the trees and shrubs leaf out, and many of my favorite plants are in bloom. The very air of May is fragrant.  We planted potatoes last w

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Refreshing The Brain

Refreshing The Brain

Do you have a time of the year when you feel more alive than other times?  My favorite season is about to begin; mid-September through mid-November.  As summer is winding down, my spirits are generally rising.  I’m not sure why; perhaps the scent of falling leaves, the lessening of the humidity, or the return of the chickadees to our bird feeders.  Whatever the reason I’m usually happier in the fall.  As I think back, most of my depressive times have been in late winter (who wouldn’t be) or earl

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Pre-Christmas Gifts And Lists

Pre-Christmas Gifts And Lists

No matter how many Christmases have gone by, or how many gray hairs I have, every year brings this feeling of expectancy, happiness and a bit of mystique when the season of Advent arrives.  This is when I pull out our collection of Christmas and Hanukkah stories and try to read one or two/day.  It is when I begin playing Christmas CDs alternately with the usual classical and folk music. It’s time for my totally unrealistic “to do” list, designed to create the perfect holiday times. Of course, I

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

Perspective And Seeing Clearly

Perspective And Seeing Clearly

“Itsy, bitsy spider went up the water spout….down came the rains and washed the spider out.  Up came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout again!”  A kid’s song apparently appropriate to August; I found three spiders escaping up the wall, in my shower this AM --- after having nary a one all summer.  Steps will be taken!! August ---the month with no holidays.  There are actually about 3 ½ weeks of summer remaining before the Equinox, but we are progra

Carol Bossard

Carol Bossard

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