“When you’re working at an unsustainable pace, when you feel emotionally flooded…then you need to add stillness to your day.”
— Darcy Luoma, Life coach author
“You must always be yourself; and do things at your own pace. Someday you’ll catch up.”
— Natsuki Takaya, Japanese manga (comic) artist
There will be no Oriental persimmons this year. The crop started off fairly well. The leaves were green and full and the fruit was about the size of a golf ball. Then the rains stopped and the drought continued day after day until there was no fruit and the leaves went pale and curled up on the ends. By the first days of August Lowndes, Clay, Monroe, and the northeast section of Oktibbeha had been labeled by the U.S. Drought Monitor between moderate to severe drought conditions.
The pear tree also looked prosperous at the beginning of the season. We don’t usually harvest many pears anyway as the raccoons, squirrels, deer, and birds ravage the fruit. What fruit was once green and growing shriveled up to the size and color of a dried-up fig. I have two avocado trees but don’t expect fruit. My next venture is planting peach pits.
Most of my plants and flowers are in pots now, where I can better control their watering needs. The bougainvillea are heavy with blooms, the mandevilla has some pretty pink flowers and healthy-looking leaves. I’m pretty proud of the mandevilla. I was told by a garden center they had never been able to overwinter a mandevilla, but somehow we managed.
Geraniums have blooms and more bud daily, as do impatiens, petunias, lantana and dianthus. The Swiss ivy, silver inch plant, and trailing vine pathos also fare well as long as they are given attention and frequent watering.
Plastic jugs are recycled into watering jugs around here to extend their use. I emptied one and brought it into the house to refill. Just as I was about to turn on the faucet a little green tree frog peaked his head out of the spout. I held my hand lightly over the frog and carried the jug back out to the porch. The top of a cottage cheese container made a tree frog watering pool; adding a small sign “Tree frog pond. Do not disturb.” I might have added, “This means you, Wilhelmina.”
The lake we’ve been draining for months is mostly done. The east end looks like a wasteland while water is still holding on the west end where deer come to their watering hole around sunset. The plan is to dig out the dry end to increase the depth and hope fall rains will fill it up again.
A few cicadas are hanging around. I don’t hear their buzzing anymore. I did find one spinning like a top in a spider’s web. I picked up a stick and freed the little critter. Sam reminded me I probably spared his life for a day or two. Anyway, I couldn’t leave him there spinning his little life away.
Recently I read a suggestion that we slow down and pay attention to all the things around us. I love doing that in nature, It’s all around me. There’s always something going on. I’m working on shifting into a daily pace I find comfortable. It takes practice.
Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].
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