Adventures in Minimalism 1/9/2022

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

As you read this, you may find my content uninteresting.  I am acknowledging that immediately because I do realize that this is a real possibility.  I had a plan as to what I wanted to talk about today and as I was pondering and before I actually started writing, I realized me finding something interesting and someone else finding something interesting were two very different things. But I’m taking a chance and am going to give you a bit of a sketch of the goings on in my neck of the woods thus far this year.  The musings will be decidedly random but if you’re a regular reader that shouldn’t shock you too much as unpredictability of subject matter is a regular occurrence in these parts.  So hang on to your hats, (I say that purely in jest because I assure you no thrills of hat removing level will be visited), and enjoy the journey through a day, or more accurately a few weeks or so, in the life of, well…me. Now that I have typed it out it seems even less intriguing than previously thought, but here is hoping.

Let us begin with a somewhat special occurrence.  My mother has already found her first daffodil.  Let me elaborate. She loathes winter and from the time the solstice occurs she is already announcing that we are almost to spring and she begins looking for daffodil shoots and buds. Until this year the earliest actual bloom she had found was the 10^th of January.  But this year she found one, well actually, I guess it was last year because she found her first on the 30^th of December.  I suppose a very early bloom shouldn’t have been too surprising since around Christmas and immediately after around here we had abnormally, and in my opinion obnoxiously, warm weather.  I wish I could say that this was a rare occurrence but, no. I have had too many warm Christmases, but then in my mind one is too many. Also, I am not a fan of the unfortunately seasonal tornadoes and severe storms this time of year either. Well, I am not a fan of them at any time but in spring it’s more expected, but no. The good ole South is just as happy to throw you a New Year’s tornado as it is a Christmas heat wave. I love living here don’t get me wrong but there are cons and this would definitely be one.  Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not add that roughly 24 hours after of one of these seasonal warm spurts, we had snow flurries; another case of southern weather being its usual temperamental, indecisive self.

In taking a stroll around the acreage surrounding my property I have noticed a few other things about this time of year I found of note.  First, while I enjoy cooler weather (when I can get it since clearly winter doesn’t guarantee it here) I do not like the fact that the leaves are gone from the trees. Not only does it draw that much more attention to the remaining greenery of the pines which I abhor, but I just discovered that when the trees surrounding our property are bare I can see more neighbors. Our land is surrounded by woods so when the canopy empties our home is no longer comfortably nestled in nature.  When I can see so many manmade structures I am no longer in the sanctuary of wilderness that I see in my mind’s eye interrupting my idyllic pastoral setting.  Being in sightlines of too many other dwellings somewhat voids my rural warranty so to speak.  Woodland creatures are welcome to look in my windows and be in view all they like. Neighbors, well, while I may like them, it doesn’t mean I want them in eye’s reach all the time. 

Disconcerting lack of leaf coverage wasn’t the only observation I made whilst perusing my surroundings.  There were other random details.  I noticed there were several dead trees that had apparently during other seasons been disguised.  It seems these rotten shells had been held vertical by nothing more than a tangled mass of jasmine, honeysuckle and muscadine.  It was odd to see that the only thing keeping multiple large tree carcasses from littering my lawn was knotted, now grey, vines. In the summer it was just solid banks of greenery but now, stripped bare the truth was revealed that the bones of the structure were decidedly less substantial than they appeared. While this masquerade was new to me there were more obvious circumstances to be observed.  One was the fact that we have enough wild onions growing in our lawn to keep a small community’s veggie pantry stocked for a significant amount of time and the other was the fact that we have an exorbitant amount of crows.  We aren’t quite to haunted Halloween house levels just yet, but they are definitely plentiful, and they are loud.  It is not uncommon to hear them echoing their noisy calls only to hear them receive distant responses.  I know what they are doing. They are clearly inviting friends.  This seems very presumptive of them to think this is permissible behavior. But then, crows don’t strike me as a type of bird that concern themselves much with decorum.

So, there we have it. I’ve related an adventurous few days of ridiculous weather, signs of spring and winter revelations.  Was it particularly interesting to read about?  I cannot say.  It was interesting to live but second-hand the luster could well be lost.  I am not even sure how to sum things up here to make some sort of closing.  Seems this blog may be the equivalent to mindless small talk.  Let’s just call this one a rest for the mind.  I don’t have any deep meaning to convey. There is no lesson to be learned.  I simply present you with life as it happens with its annoyances and beauty; a little bit of everything. All with a side of wild onions.