38 ~ Collecting the good.
Thanks for everyone’s caption suggestions for the eaglet photo. That was fun.
A couple of days ago (Thursday) came the event that each year marks the arrival (or at least approach!) of spring in my annual cycle: I started tapping maple trees and collecting their sap, the first step of the alchemy into syrup. Tapping maples in the snow is the prologue of spring, and with it we can be sure that the main performance, with its sprays of color, light and song, will soon follow. I love this event, and especially the sound it makes. The first whistle of chickadees is a tentative melody of early spring, and this is the rhythm section. Have a watch and a listen, just seconds after putting in the first tap; it’s the marching footfall of approaching spring – can you hear it?? maple beat
Some audience participation: In a recent post I talked about some gratitude I have for the pandemic, in the way it has helped me deepen into the groove and rhythm of an annual cycle (such as now the timely tapping of maple trees). But I also know that the ongoing lockdowns and restrictions, especially in this period of late winter (at least for us northern hemisphereans), have become a test of endurance and sanity for many of us. So let’s see what support we can give one another: I invite each of us to take a moment to reflect on a gift of the pandemic in our lives, or the wider world, and type it into the Comments section below. Let’s each contribute a drop or two, and see what sweet syrup of hope and encouragement we can make (if you have any difficulty entering your idea into the Comments, just email it to me, and I’ll add it for you: hawkcall@yahoo.com).
As Wilde put it, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” What pandemic stars do you see? I’ll start us off with one or two. And feel free to share this with your friends and family - let’s see how many benefits we can name and collect (only that - no dualistic conclusion necessary on whether overall the pandemic was ‘good’ or ‘bad’).