I just saw a chickadee nip in and out of our new bird bird house! What a thrill !!! Being so close to the window, it catches my eye right way when any bird explores it. So far most birds have been landing on top of the bird bird house and hopping around curiously. The day before yesterday a chickadee popped inside for half a minute, then she left. I am thrilled to see she is back... such a pleasure to think that this delicate creature might be part of my view for many weeks to come as the birds go about the business of building nests. I really do enjoy watching birds. It's a lovely way to day dream....
Yesterday we went on a local birdwatching adventure- to see the snow geese. Migrating north, in March they tend to congregate in the thousands in a large "Wildlife Management Area" called
Middle Creek, about an hours drive from our house. My husband heard about the snow geese and wanted to take me to see them.
Snow Goose
It has been a cold dreary drizzly gray week and I was worried that the rain would make for an miserable outing, but yesterday the sun came out full blaze and the sky was brilliant blue. The day was still quite nippy with a frigid wind, the type that snatches away hats and chaps lips and turns your face and fingers numb... But we braved it anyway, bundled up in our warmest clothes, and equipped with maps and bird books and binoculars and digital cameras off we went and gosh it was sooo worth it!
The drive there is very pretty, right through Amish country with all the farms, as well as through some charming old small towns with intriguing architecture.
Flocks of white snow geese dot the rural landscape as you get closer to Middle Creek Park, looking very much like random drifts and patches of snow. But in the park itself the flock was utterly massive! And everywhere!!!
There is a nicely designed visitor's center with racks holding fliers about local wildlife, as well as rooms with easy to understand interesting exhibits. They even had hands on things for the children, such as pelts of various soft furry animals like rabbits and minks. There was also a small table with baked goods for snacking, or hot dogs for those who want to feel like they are having more of a meal. And an ice bucket with soda and bottled water. Very simple, well thought out- and the people there were so friendly and kind and helpful. But what really impressed me was on the far side of the visitor's center, a large room that was all window looking out at the fields- and the snow geese. A narrow table ran alongside the wall of windows, with chairs for sitting, and every few feet binoculars were attached by long cords. One could easily just stay in the visitors' center- but there are better ways to enjoy the place, including a self guided driving tour (March 1- September 15).
You can pull over alongside the road simply to gaze, or you can go to special lots to park and take an easy hike where you quickly find yourself simply surrounded by nature. There are woods as well as wide wintery fields of long dried grass, and ponds with many different birds, including swans, and Canada geese, ducks and even the occasional eye catching hooded Merganser. But the snow geese were the star of the show. I've never seen so many all at once! Most stayed on the ground in the fields not far from the path we were on, but every once in a while they would startle up and the sky would be filled- they'd fly right over your head and the noise of their honking (more like a dog barking) was everywhere. It fills you - takes your breath away. It was a wonderful wonderful birdwatching adventure, especially as my eagle eyed husband would notice and point out things I would have missed otherwise. We'd stop and watch with bare eyes, then binoculars and/or cameras, then bare eyes again. Simply amazed- awed by the beauty of all the many birds.
Jaffar
Yesterday for hours after we came home every time I closed my eyes all I could see was snow geese and that blue blue sky- such a beautiful day. And today I am reluctant to do anything but think about the snow geese... it really was an enchanting afternoon.
Heavens how to tie this into growing gardens for Palestine?!
Well I really don't know- I keep getting distracted by snow geese... I do know that I worry about the this earth of ours, and all its natural beauty. We have to take care of it- or will be gone. Going green is crucial, and hopefully it will become a bigger and bigger industry and people will once again rely on more natural, balanced ways to manage resources- and care for cultural treasures.
Where we live many old one room school houses have been turned into homes. One near where I grew up was owned by a retired school teacher who nailed up a black board by her front door and every day would write a "lesson" in white chalk, often a bit of poem- something to inspire.
One by one, simply as people with personalities we make our homes, and we tend our gardens and create enchanting communities as we get to know our neighbors and our neighborhoods.
Communities change through the years. Natural change is best, especially when it respects what was.... I know of more than one local art gallery resurrecting an old abandoned church. Its a perfect place for any kind of congregation. Just as our wildlife centers are a very good way to preserve the natural habitat all wild creatures and native plants need in order to survive, it is good idea to preserve nice things from the past that people have built. Not only the huge obvious things, but the small town things too, with flavors of the past. Homemade touches.
Paths and places along the way to stop and gaze. Whatever the season. To be able to stop to smell the roses. It's aways nice to have a bench or a chair- or at least a rail to lean on, or a wall of windows to look out, so that one can stop to reflect- to feel everything and simply be in the garden.
In growing a personal private garden for Palestine, one can't exactly command a flock of migrating birds to land- but one can have wind chimes to play on the breeze. And one can have a bench or a garden seat strategically placed. A resting spot where one can go to restore one's spirit, even in the wintertime.
In remembering Palestine, already most people connected by family history to Palestine, treasure Palestine primarily in private ways. There is great pain right now as various politicians and religious leaders all seem to be at odds, each vying for crumbs of power... but Palestine is so much more than petty politics, and so much more than one religion or another, just as it is so much more that simply the "Holy Land" and its shrines. Palestine is both the land, and the people of that land and all their progeny. Palestine has a long intriguing multicultural intricate history that includes personal stories right now of what once was, not long ago, within living memory...
The untold stories (IMEU) And in growing a public Garden for Palestine, having stepped through the key shaped entry, I can easily imagine paths meandering every where- and places to sit. Palces under trees. Places to rest, both to be alone and to congregate with family and friends. Places to make new friends. Places to chat, or to simply gaze... For a hot summer's day large arbors to provide shade here and there, And for the wintery months wind screens.
Our deciduous trees here in Pennsylvania drop their leaves so that while lush green leaves shade our homes and gardens from the hot summer sun, the leaves drop in autumn so that we get a glimpse of sun during long cold winter months. Pin oaks however, do not drop their leaves. The leaves turn brown but they stay on the tree, loudly rustling as wintery winds blow. And empty acorn caps crunch underfoot as you walk under an oak... "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow"...
And the sound of the loudly rustling leaves reminds me of loudly rustling leaves in another garden we were in only last summer... growing children- and good memories.
hawk in our neighbor's tree
In growing a private, personal garden for Palestine touch the earth, and marvel at what nature and nurture can do, out of nothing it seems, after this long dreary winter. Our seasons teach us patience- and hope- and surprise, as well as serendipity. Spring comes again, no matter what. And one never really knows for sure what might grow where.
