Andrew and I have recently begun taking our local nature center more seriously and last night I went snowshoeing in the moonlight with Lisa and a dozen other hearty souls. It was lovely.
I am constantly impressed with the staff at Wood Lake. They love their jobs, and love Wood Lake and their passion is contagious.
Lisa was talking about Robin Migration with her mom yesterday and forwarded this link today.
I spent 10 tearfilled minutes listening to various Robin calls. I'm ready for the big melt down.
And todays poem:
by adrien stoutenburg
Gregorian Adjustment, 1582
George Washington's birthday February 11, Old Style;
February 22, New Style.
The equinox was out of joint.
In twelve hundred years plus fifty-seven
trusted calendar went awry,
delveoping an error of ten days,
so nothing matched.
Leaves bloomed too late;
birds nested in blank boughs;
even roosters were crowing out of tune.
Pope Gregory on his stiff thrown,
bent brow to fist,
attempting to reel time back
to something rational and true.
From prayer and thought he ruled
then strumpet days must be tossed out
upon the dump heap of eternity,
the daily reckoning rectified.
Time is a racer and a sloth.
The Pope's chill bones
were tapestry
by the time his rectification came
to the American Colonies
and caught Ben Franklin
out of time...
then days plus one
(a leap year's maverick sprint)
to be deducted from the total sum
of trips abroad, tomes, kites, and love.
Franklin was one who treasured sleep,
regretted those sweet hours lost;
yet philosophy with him ran deep,
and time was but a sieve, he knew,
through which one must expect a leak.
Our founding fathers took in stride
corrections of inevitable flaws.
Some losses had to be.
Birthdays were hustled into line,
adjustments made for wages lost,
new dates assigned to deaths or anniversaries.
But still the gap yawns there:
eleven days of expurgated history.
I am leaving on vacation in less than one week, and time is definitely "a racer and a sloth" in that regard. So not ready. So ready.
Off to skate. WE WILL FIND WAYS TO ENJOY WINTER!!!
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