Beryl's Fall 2020
May 23, 2020
Winter Encroaches on Fall
Our Backyard View
This year, winter arrived when fall was still flaunting her colors. The view outside my window enchants me! The dark green of the spruce, their branches laden with snow, and the maples behind them, still flaming with red glory and aspen behind them, still touched with gold.
We've been blessed with an especially wondrous fall. I suppose one could call it an extended Indian Summer. Temperate weather, glorious color, and plenty of wildlife, avian and four footed, to draw us from our covid confinement into the fresh air. It's a wondrous restorative for whatever ails you.
Recently, the small pond behind our building, sported a new structure: a rather large grass mound that appeared overnight. It resembled a beaver lodge save it was constructed of aquatic plants. Always curious about such sightings, I turned to google and discovered it was a muskrat lodge. We'd presumed the small muskrat who visited our pond disappeared, I presumed he left. There was no missing him this spring though as he darted from under the pond bank to cruise through algae and pond plants before returning to shore. Then off he'd shoot again. Back and forth. Such an industrious little fellow he must be, building such a structure without revealing his presence. Two ducks and one goose standing atop his mound proclaimed the muskrat's presence.
This newsletter comes as an experiment using Mail Chimp, a mail service system I've turned to because iCloud and Outlook were no longer working well. I've been spending a lot of frustrating hours during covid confinement trying to negotiate various computer programs I once used with ease. Intent on updating and "improving" their processes, they've stymied my efforts. Quicken, Dropbox, Adobe, Google Drive all gave me problems. Maybe it's just my age, but if you've had similar issues, you have my compassion and understanding.
We face an uncertain future but have often done so as a nation before. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who faced a similar political and cultural climate, addressed this issue in his first inaugural speech. "We have nothing to fear but fear itself," he said. Great leaders do not hide the truth from their followers. They confront the painful and take steps to alleviate the situation. They appeal to what's best in their citizens. Expect a spirit of cooperation and self-sacrifice. Our nation is filled with courageous and compassionate people who work together to meet the needs the times demand. Who can cast off the mantle of fear and hatred the last four years have induced.
God bless each one of you.
Fondly,
Beryl