Generation Bridges

 Pondering the importance of friendships in our lives.  This is an ongoing thing for me, I have been blessed by so many different friendships over  my many years.  Tonight I am thinking of Louise and Matt.

   As a child from  ages 6  until I left home this couple lived just two houses south of ours in the row parallel to Harrison Street.  Louise was the age of my grandmother and was one of my grandmother's friends through their lives as young mothers, raising children.   I was lucky to have my grandmother living just across the street  to the north and Louise so nearby.  It is wonderful to be totally accepted by someone who has the wisdom to serve as a guide during the difficult years we call "growing up." 

Louise had a rag rug loom in their home.  Often this was a place I could just 'hang out' and share thoughts of my life, problems I had encountered, difficulties with my peers and such, while I might be wrapping her strips of cloth into ever growing rag balls that she could use at her loom, passing it back and forth during our gabbing session.  The rug slowly lengthening,  me doing much of the gabbing, Louise doing much of the listening.  Matt in the corner, reading a paper, or just soaking up our chatter. 

Her husband played a big part in this friendship. After a big snow storm the path behind our houses was cleared for small legs to push through.  As I walked to school down the back alley behind our houses on a winter day it would not be unusual for Matt to be out of sight amongst the various out-buildings and he would throw snowballs  to announce his presence.  All year round he provided little moments of fun.  He always made me feel welcome to come into the warmth of their home for a bit of a visit, or a treat.   

When I got to the adult stage of my life I realized that this relationship with someone two generations beyond, unrelated, was not the common thing.  Louise  and Matt had likely had similar activities with their daughter and my mother, living so close, as they did with me.  My parents were totally comfortable with  my connections with these fine people, knowing I was safe and being positively nurtured by them.  They helped me to become who I am.  The bridge across our  years has influenced my interactions with others throughout my life. Acceptance is a major need in the lives of all people, all colors, all ages.  

Winter Has Its Own Appeal

 

Winter has its own kind of beautiful, even when it is dry and barren. Those leafless trees have such interesting lines and angles and the trunks exhibit a solidity that we don’t notice much when they are all full of green loveliness. When a winter bird--- owl, hawk, magpie, chickadee -- no matter the size, alights on a branch it is like a nature’s ornament added to the tree. Their vocal presentations just add to the scene

A pond or lake may be frozen, hard enough to invite skaters. Sometimes, however there is enough running water from the spring or creek that feeds the pond that it stays open and inviting. Then it’s color varies as it reflects the sky. Some days the water surface is almost a near-black mirror, disturbed only by the paddling of a winter duck. Other days that crisp winter blue color is accented by frozen shores whether they are covered with snow, or dry bulrushes and cattails.

A different breed of water fowl inhabits our pond during the winter. They pick up the winter colors—or lack thereof---of black and white. The winter coats of our wildlife are a cooler color and a thicker texture in this season and they move around our valley, up and down the slopes finding feed and water, often consuming the feed man has harvested for the use of his domestic herds. Even high fences can be scaled in a bad winter. An empty barn provides a perfect shelter for bedding down, until some  human investigates. 

The trails of our wild life make for interesting designs as they travel from water source, to food source, to bedding areas. Many times it is obvious that they are traveling single file, particularly as the snow deepens. The slopes make for diagonal lines as the ascend or descend.  Orchards with unpicked fruit bring the deer in while the world is sleeping. One might hear a clang from a feeding pan of an outdoor pet or some rattling in the darkness, not from the pet but from a visiting raccoon or other critter who has that spot on his food route. The print of the bird feet in the snow around those same feeding pans makes for a lacey design where they hustle in and out, keeping a wary eye out for the household cat or dog, owner of the pan.

Winter has many positive things to enrich our lives while the earth is resting. I am grateful for our Creator giving us so much beauty year round as His world goes through its seasons and cycles.