Back to the Fast Track

Almost as soon as I got home from my week in Alabama with no wifi service whatsoever, I was immediately bombarded with phone calls & emails about the CU Museum of Natural History poetry/nature project I'm working on, the arrival of the spring issue of Winds of Change, and my involvement in the 2nd Annual Kirkland Museum Ekphrastic reading.

I had to take a deep breath and sadly let the soft, slow pace of spring in Alabama fade. I was getting a really nasty attitude about returning to the world of work, bills, etc. I had slept so soundly in Alabama, the Tennessee River flowing just a few giant steps away from the back door. I actually did not miss the fact that I did not have cell service or access to the Internet unless we made a quick trip into town. I spent the better part of Tuesday moaning to my husband about wanting a backyard swing in which I could rock for hours reading poetry. I finished Molly Fisk's new book, The More Difficult Beauty and Rachel Dacus' new book Femme au Chapeau. I also whined to my husband about the fact that our house did not have a river running through it! Couldn't we make one??

But then, I decided, wait a minute, there really is going to be another spring and it is coming and it will be spectacular up here, as it always is. Our wildflowers rival any wildflowers in any state, in my opinion. And our birds are just as fascinating with their language, and we have the added bonus of running into a bear or mountain lion, albeit neither would be pleasant!

So, I got up from my computer yesterday, brushed aside the guilty feeling that I was abandoning my work for an hour, got my dog, and headed up the mountain trail across the road from me. And wouldn't you know it, halfway through the still-crispy dry montane meadows, the little angels of spring, the Pasque flowers were shyly popping up in a crazy abundance! Yet they were still reticent, as well they should be. They were not fully opened yet and their silky hairs that act as protection from snow were still tightly wrapped around the short stems. They are wise because we have had snow in May. But I was so happy to see them and I felt just fine after that. The arrival of the Pasque always signals that spring is just a few weeks away. And then all our wildflowers will be bursting open and I will not be so cranky. Hopefully. Plus, I needn't be worried. Alabama will always be there. My friend Mary Jean has invited me back again next year. So I've attached one last photo of the beautiful sunsets we watched each night in Alabama and I'm now looking forward to the sunsets and sunrises here. And enjoy the photo of the Pasque. They truly are miraculous plants and have myriad medicinal uses. However, I had to sneak in two more Alabama photos: one of a pre-Civil War slave's tombstone; the other photo is the ubiquitous cross vine that wraps itself all the way up the giant oak trees.