L’chaim

Charlie and I went for a walk Friday morning, before the snow started. The pair of geese who have returned to the neighbor’s pond were walking on our driveway, looking for bugs to eat, as they often did last year. Jay has named them Fred and Ethel. Charlie seems to be entirely uninterested in them. He has a lot of sniffing to do. They start honking loudly as we approach, and Fred fans out his tail, presumably to show me how tough he is. Finally, they can’t tolerate our nearness and take off honking towards the pond.

There seemed to be little living action on the ground or in the trees and bushes. With ice still on most of the pond and in the roadside ditches, with patches of dirty snow, with grey and cold, it could easily have been any month in the winter. An hour or so after our walk the snow started, and it fell in big, wet flakes for several hours before finally turning to rain. It was hard to drag ourselves away from the fire on such a night, but we wanted to get to Temple Beth El for services so we marshaled our resolve and went. And it was lovely to be there, to see friends including the rabbi, to sit in the beautiful sanctuary, to say Kaddish for my Dad who will be gone seven years on the 16th.

Saturday morning we were back at the Farmers’ Market. There are greens! Spinach, water cress, beautiful red lettuce. The goat cheese lady is back. People are in lighter coats, and there are fewer hats and gloves. The season is turning. We met Aviva, always a treat, and sat chatting over coffee and yummy pastry from the bakery ladies, listening to the friendly hum of the market.

And today, Sunday, I went for a walk into a different world. Swallows flew back and forth over the nesting boxes. A great blue heron took off over the pond. The red-winged blackbirds were gargling in the trees and the phoebe was calling out its name. Alongside Gulf Road I saw the first yellow flowers of the season, coltsfoot. Many of the branches of trees and bushes have sprouted buds. Their red casings give the woods a misty red look from a distance. The ice was gone from the roadside ditches, and there is a wider channel of open water around the shore of the pond. Fred was out walking on the ice, but I didn’t see Ethel. At the top of Gulf Road the weekend people are back in the last house on the west side. Their dog ran out, first to warn me off, and then to give me a friendly sniff.

At the top of the hill I turned left onto Billy Schwerd Road, leaving Hartwick and entering the town of Burlington, and walked to the crest where I can see the farm in the next valley. There were still big patches of snow on the fields, but they are giving way. Most of the grass is still brown, but green is gaining. A neighbor was digging in her garden. Geese made their racket all along my way, and between their honks the air was full of birdsong, Heading back towards home, I took off my hat and my jacket! As I turned up our driveway I noticed that the beavers have been back at work, with two pretty good sized trees partly gnawed. There were a few beetles on the driveway. I wonder if they know Fred and Ethel are home.