CRANBERRY LAKE NEWS:
The newts, or efts, are alive and well, enjoying the rain as long as it doesn't pour. A few must have been flushed out of their homes during the last deluge that was about 1 1/2 inches... not too much, except it all came within an hour. But Ahh... what relief in the woods with this hot weather. It's easily 10 degrees cooler, and perhaps 20 degrees compared to the thermometer in the sun of the back deck at home. But walking in the cool woods with its canopy of leaves is like looking at all the great art. The leaves in relief against the blue sky look like the green in a Tiffany lamp. The roots of a maple hug the ground making a sculpture of a giant claw, like a big bird left it leg and all.
When the impossible situations of life as seen and heard on TV and radio come crashing into our lives or living rooms at least, it's good to remember that God is in Heaven and all's right with the world. I realize that Nature-all things living on this great earth-the trees, the grass, the birds and newts... we all have protoplasm in common. It's a lightswitch on the wall of life that was turned on at conception and will grow and win in the end just as sure as the sunset... just as sure as gravity. We are all living if we can now breathe, and the sap or blood flows in our limbs. All the stuff going on in Washington just kind of fades away and the Master-the Artist of all artists-the wonder of all the complex living things-overwhelms my serious worries about D.C. and I leave that up to those we voted into office, and on a wing and a prayer they can work out the details.
Think of that wind that blew down the trees so many years ago... but after we'd moved up here. The bark drops off. I pick it up and put it between the bare toes (roots) of the trees on my path to make it more even for those who trod my paths. Even my paths are transitional. The leaves fall, get trod upon, breakdown, leaving the web of their leaf veins. This makes a slipshod carpet eventually that only gets stronger with the traffic of the path... that is if a deluge doesn't wash it away. Everything is temporary and changing. The only thing constant is change, biodegrading in such interesting ways, bringing new life in fine tuned insects that break down nature's leftovers, having them for supper. But it all works out. The wood ants that were working on the hollowed out tree created a huge pile of what looked like sawdust. How did such a big pile get there? Did each ant take each piece of wood in their jaws (mandibles) and drop it off the end above causing this pyramid of dust?
Weeks later, as I was passing this pile of sawdust, the reverse was happening. The pile of sawdust was getting smaller. Ants were on the sawdust, looking around.... then picking up one piece of sawdust.... then walking to one shallow spot or another dumping it there. One piece of sawdust at a time with all the patience of... well, an ant. The insects have nothing better to do. They don't think, "Oh, this stupid piece of sawdust isn't going to make a difference. It's a small change, and along with everything living, it becomes a part of the whole changing universe.
My path was changed almost every time a tree falls, as was the case this spring. I had to reroute it around the base of the old rotted out maple. And like an ant's path if you could see its line from standing above it, my path as seen from a balloon, may see me as small as an insect, and the changes on my path as natural to my nature as the way the ants biodegrades the woods. In my natural way, I'm both forming a path and part of the biosystem of the woods, just by repairing the trail and walking to and from the Lake.
Take heart all of you who worry too much about federal problems that have grown too big for our understanding. We too are a part of nature. Enjoy all that it has given you, and walk in the woods and just wonder... just wonder.
Sincerely,
Cranberry Jo
The newts, or efts, are alive and well, enjoying the rain as long as it doesn't pour. A few must have been flushed out of their homes during the last deluge that was about 1 1/2 inches... not too much, except it all came within an hour. But Ahh... what relief in the woods with this hot weather. It's easily 10 degrees cooler, and perhaps 20 degrees compared to the thermometer in the sun of the back deck at home. But walking in the cool woods with its canopy of leaves is like looking at all the great art. The leaves in relief against the blue sky look like the green in a Tiffany lamp. The roots of a maple hug the ground making a sculpture of a giant claw, like a big bird left it leg and all.
When the impossible situations of life as seen and heard on TV and radio come crashing into our lives or living rooms at least, it's good to remember that God is in Heaven and all's right with the world. I realize that Nature-all things living on this great earth-the trees, the grass, the birds and newts... we all have protoplasm in common. It's a lightswitch on the wall of life that was turned on at conception and will grow and win in the end just as sure as the sunset... just as sure as gravity. We are all living if we can now breathe, and the sap or blood flows in our limbs. All the stuff going on in Washington just kind of fades away and the Master-the Artist of all artists-the wonder of all the complex living things-overwhelms my serious worries about D.C. and I leave that up to those we voted into office, and on a wing and a prayer they can work out the details.
Think of that wind that blew down the trees so many years ago... but after we'd moved up here. The bark drops off. I pick it up and put it between the bare toes (roots) of the trees on my path to make it more even for those who trod my paths. Even my paths are transitional. The leaves fall, get trod upon, breakdown, leaving the web of their leaf veins. This makes a slipshod carpet eventually that only gets stronger with the traffic of the path... that is if a deluge doesn't wash it away. Everything is temporary and changing. The only thing constant is change, biodegrading in such interesting ways, bringing new life in fine tuned insects that break down nature's leftovers, having them for supper. But it all works out. The wood ants that were working on the hollowed out tree created a huge pile of what looked like sawdust. How did such a big pile get there? Did each ant take each piece of wood in their jaws (mandibles) and drop it off the end above causing this pyramid of dust?
Weeks later, as I was passing this pile of sawdust, the reverse was happening. The pile of sawdust was getting smaller. Ants were on the sawdust, looking around.... then picking up one piece of sawdust.... then walking to one shallow spot or another dumping it there. One piece of sawdust at a time with all the patience of... well, an ant. The insects have nothing better to do. They don't think, "Oh, this stupid piece of sawdust isn't going to make a difference. It's a small change, and along with everything living, it becomes a part of the whole changing universe.
My path was changed almost every time a tree falls, as was the case this spring. I had to reroute it around the base of the old rotted out maple. And like an ant's path if you could see its line from standing above it, my path as seen from a balloon, may see me as small as an insect, and the changes on my path as natural to my nature as the way the ants biodegrades the woods. In my natural way, I'm both forming a path and part of the biosystem of the woods, just by repairing the trail and walking to and from the Lake.
Take heart all of you who worry too much about federal problems that have grown too big for our understanding. We too are a part of nature. Enjoy all that it has given you, and walk in the woods and just wonder... just wonder.
Sincerely,
Cranberry Jo
posted by Cranberry Jo @ 7/31/2011 04:33:00 PM
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