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April 3, 2005
The Outermost House
A Spring Morning
Meng Hao-janI awake light-hearted this morning of spring.
Everywhere around me the singing of birds --
But I remember the night, the storm,
And I wonder how many blossoms were broken.
After two weeks of travels, and an extended retreat from the digital world, we are finally all back together under our own roof. As I search for last night's missing hour in a mug of green tea, Orion stirs beside his mother and Pika pads slowly across the kitchen linoleum, stopping to stretch before nosing at me for a scratch. Things are again as they should be.
Our week off the southern New England coast was a kind of spiritual appassimento, a drying out of the soul from the drenching late winter of our more northern climate, a drying which is only one step in the gentle process of distilling a delectation of spirit. Our welcome retreat was without plan or reflection, more the moment of a haiku than the procession of verses that is our everyday routine.
To go south for the vernal equinox is to embrace the northward march of spring head on. But our southward shift was as much about meeting the spring as it was about reconnecting with one another in a warm(er), springtime slant of light.
Morning
The leaves of the predominant oaks -- a mix of white, black, post, and scrub -- are still months away from unfurling, so the low canopy of grey branches only lightly filters the spectrum of blue above -- coloring the tangle of huckleberry bushes beneath with the radiant warmth of a new season.
Afternoon
Orion is snug against my chest, looking out at a world he has never seen; perhaps his view lacks detail, but the expanse of mottled green waves, the sound of pebbles tumbling along the sand, and the salt spray of early spring meet his senses as they do mine, and we trace the line of the horizon together.
Evening
Calls rippling across a watercolor sky,
Two geese low over the pines in fading light,
The world starting us with its sudden closeness.
Posted by pavel at April 3, 2005 11:25 AM
Comments
Great to see the blog 'alive' again. You guys look wonderful, the writing is fantastic and it's good to learn a bit about Italian wine making.
Love you,
Gina
Posted by: Gina at April 3, 2005 1:05 PM
My, what big EYES you have, Orion! :-)
Posted by: Lorianne at April 3, 2005 5:18 PM
Missed you when you were gone!
Great post. Loved the pictures too... the last one really made me giggle. :)
Posted by: Karen at April 4, 2005 10:45 PM