Be Careful What You Pray For

-->

Each Sunday, for the three years I have lived in Texas, our church has prayed for rain.  This winter we started getting wonderfully New England style days, “misty, moisty” days where the clouds and drizzle would last all day.  I was delighted.  This spring even more rain came, and the wildflowers were glorious, every latent seed bursting into bloom. Even the fruit trees in our yard which heretofore only produced enough fruit to keep the mockingbirds happy, have so many apples and plums on them the branches seem in danger of breaking. 

When my grandchildren arrived from Maine, the forecast was for rain each of the 9 days they were here.  Unheard of, and thankfully it was an exaggeration.   Each day, some rain would fall but we were able to carry on with trips to the zoo, the creek where I work, a rodeo, etc. 

Two days after their departure, I drove off to Illinois in torrents of rain with constant reminders to “get to shelter” coming over my IPhone. Yet, as you know, I thankfully, arrived alive.   I had outrun the storm and found myself in a delightfully green and spring-like Illinois.  Back at home; Texas continued its torrential downpours.  My poor husband was out on the roof,  in the midst of a thunderstorm, trying to locate the roof leaks that were dripping in the house. I guess I can feel a tad guilty I wasn’t there to help him.

 I also feel bad that while I take the dogs to the parks where the grass waves in the wind and the leaves rustle in 4- story high, deciduous trees, my counterparts in the Hill country are watching their trees uproot and float down raging rivers.  The creek where I had caught crayfish with my grandchildren in early May was now making the news floating SUV’s down it: inconceivable and heartbreaking.   

Heartbreaking to even try to get your mind around being on vacation and having your vacation house, with you and your children in it, pulled from its foundation and shooting you down the river, perhaps, never to be seen again.

As a Christian, I've always been struck by the verse where Jesus warns us “You do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13).  He is talking about being ready for his return but I always have thought of it in terms of, I have no idea about the day and the hour when I will meet him face to face. I think of it with every disaster, that those people had no idea that when that day began, it would be their last.

That realization has led me to a simple morning prayer:

“Father God, I have no idea what’s coming down the pike today, but you know every detail.  Please, give me the grace to get through whatever comes my way.” It leads to a “THIS DAY” style of living; something Jesus seems to be a big advocate for. “ Don’t worry about tomorrow” he says, “for today has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34) and “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? And since you can not do this little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” (Luke 12:25-26)

THIS DAY then, I pray for the people whose lives, along with the landscape, have been forever altered.  THIS DAY, the lakes are going from the forecast of being dried up completely by 2016, to, filled to the brim in 2015. THIS DAY the mosquitoes think they have died and gone to heaven; never has the world become such a breeding ground.  Another reason I am glad THIS DAY to be in ILL and not Texas.  THIS DAY a huge amount of Texans are helping their neighbors and praying for the ones who are in the midst of tragedy.  THIS DAY, may we all pray for them.

 And for you, I pray that where you live, rivers stay in their courses, the sun shines, and you house stays rooted.  Ironically, I think I was joking about that at the end of the last blog, that that sentiment would make a good Hallmark card.  And now, it has come to pass.  Not so funny when it really happens.  I promise, next blog will actually BE about nature, not that this wasn’t but lets go for something less tragic like, “What are catkins anyways?  How does that saying go?  “God willing and the creeks don’t rise.”

The Missing Naturalist : Part Two

-->

If you read my last blog (April 29), you were given a list of my excuses for not writing in April with a projection that May, may prove no better. And so it came to pass.  Here it is, May 21, and I am finally finding a minute to send a new batch of excuses! I am presently in Urbana Illinois, just blocks from the lovely campus of the University of Illinois and having my idea of a 5 star vacation! 

My task is watching my daughters, fairly recently, rescued dog while she, her sister and friends gad about Peru, hiking Machu Pichu and environs. They are having a delightful time but then, so am I. Tuck is with me, and both dogs seem willing to let me determine our schedules with very little argument from them. Delightful!

I have travelled North in May before and find it the most glorious month to travel in.  Texas, which is getting rain in Biblical proportions, was greener than green with every dormant flower seed in bloom and, except for the slight distraction of downpours and threats coming over my phone to seek shelter (!), it was a beautiful ride. I would have preferred not to come in such a Pecos Bill method, practically riding a tornado here, but I DID arrive alive so I have much to be thankful for; another notch on my guardian angel, Rico’s, belt!

 

My joy also comes from being the captain of my own ship, a rare event in my everyday life.  I have a schedule of my own making with no “must do's” other then walking the dogs four times a day and cleaning and preparing my daughters things for shipping.  We have moved 18 times so this is something I'm fairly good at and bless my daughter for having NO pack rat tendencies. This townhouse, compared to a 4-bedroom house, is a piece of cake!

I did have great expectations of all the backed up paperwork I would get done here.  Growing up near the Cape, I developed a saying that I am “Going to the beach”.  What that means is, you bring tons of things that you MIGHT do; books to read, letters to write, but in the end, you would just lie on the warm sand and do nothing. Well, I've been here almost a week and it's the same thing. I brought a bag full of postponed paperwork, a promise to myself that I would finally organize pictures on the computer, that I would do yoga, that I would read about 10 books and so far zip, nothing of that nature has been accomplished. This “explanatory” blog is meant to kick start me into action. 

In April if I had time, which I didn’t, I would have written a blog called “Covered in Catkins”, the world was probably 6” deep in the prolific catkins of the Live Oak. 

 Nesting was in full swing and sadly I witnessed a “snatch and grab” of cardinal nestlings by a Scrub Jay.  Easy picking as this cardinal pair had chosen to nest in a spot that I could notice their comings and goings, but clearly the jay could too.  If you live in the north, perhaps those topics will be timely. My husband tells me that the catkins are now clogging our gutters causing an abundance of leaks in the roof. Stink.  Also, I hear the mosquitoes are thinking of putting in a pipeline to deliver our blood to other mosquitoes in drought stricken places like California. I am not sorry to be missing that.

Now, I must depart for a nearby, lovely dog park, peopled primarily by graduate and Ph.D. students.  One can count on some interesting conversations; my own private TED Talk experience.

Reporting from the Midwest, as MY schedule allows.  To my Texas friends, enjoy marveling at the mushrooms that must be popping up everywhere. My yard had an abundance of them when I left with wonderful half-moon bite marks that made me nostalgic for the mushroom loving, Box turtles of the Cape.  In Texas I would hazard a guess they were made by the omnipresent deer that, as we speak, are adding to their numbers.

Would love to hear what is springing up in your spring.  I think my email address is somewhere on this blog page.  May your house stay grounded and your cars not wash downstream!  There is a Hallmark greeting for you!