Yesterday I posted a picture of a tiny cone on a hemlock tree struggling to survive at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. Today I’m sharing a picture my sister took last week back home in Connecticut. The snow covered branches belong to one of the few remaining hemlock trees my brother-in-law has been fighting to save.
And below is an illustrated poem someone shared of Facebook, Dust of Snow, written by Robert Frost.
Playing around and meditating under the hemlock trees in winter kept my heart full of joy all the winters I spent growing up there!
THAT is poetry
Yes, you can tell Robert Frost lived in and loved New England!
That’s a LOT of snow, Barbara!!
It reminds me of how much snow we used to get when we were kids!! 🌲
Nice poem, but I don’t miss snow.
I miss the snow but not the cold temps! 🌲
<3
🌲
Does it snow in North Carolina? Do you miss snow? I like a little bit on a shiny winter day, but then I’m done, lol.
I do miss snow, but not as much as I thought I would. Apparently it does snow here once in a while. (February 2020 – 3″, December 2018 – 11″, February 2014 – 5″, December 2010 – 12″, January 2000 – 23″.) Maybe we’re due??? 🌲
I find it interesting how you and your sister are now connecting through close to real time journey of hemlocks. I’m sure that you miss her dearly as well as the beauty of the snow.
I do miss my sister so very much! The two of us have a unique love of our cherished childhood friends, the hemlocks. Beverly was disappointed the sparkling crystals in the snow didn’t show up in the photo, but I could picture it… 🌲
What an amazing writer/poet. The rhythm, the imagery, beautiful. I have a book of his poems. I think I need to take it out and dust it off.
I’m so pleased you enjoyed the poem, Timelesslady, and I hope you will soon be spending many happy hours reading your book of Robert Frost poems.
Lovely, Barbara!
Thank you, Donna! 🌲
Lovely snowy photo, Barbara. Do you think you will always call Connecticut home?
I have a book of Robert Frost’s poetry. I must see if this poem is in it. 🙂
Thank you, Joanne. I suspect I will always call Connecticut home since I was born there and lived there for 66 years! My sister still lives in the house we grew up in. It would be hard to think of it in any other way. 🌲
My husband calls the area where we live “home”. His family has lived here for several generations, so that’s understandable, but when I met him we lived in Sydney for fifteen years. I grew up just outside of Sydney, so to me, the Sydney area is home. I’ve given up correcting him when he refers to the time (1992) when we moved “back home”, lol. That’s probably why I wondered where you called home.
I know what you mean, at the same time your husband moved back to his childhood home you moved away from yours. Sometimes I wonder about families that are uprooted and move every couple of years — they probably never use the expression “back home.” Back home, while out and about, we’d pass by the church where my 2nd-great-grandparents married in 1860. And I could visit the graves of many of my ancestors. No roots like that “down here,” which seems to be how I’ve started referring to my new home. But the future is down here, where my grandchildren were born and live.
So your grandchildren will refer to “down here” as “home” when they grow up. ❤️
❤️ It will be interesting to see how far away from “home” they wander when they grow up.
I hope not too far, not permanently at least. My family have all travelled, but they live nearby, which is lovely for me. It makes life easily than having to move to be near them, like you did. xx
It will be interesting to see if your grandchildren settle down nearby, too, after they’re done traveling. I can picture you on your 90th birthday, surrounded by a bunch of great-grandchildren. ♡♡
Well, I do plan to live to 100. 💕
Excellent plan! 🙂 ♡
The beauty of the snow, much as we despise it sometimes, is a special memory for you as well. I like Robert Frost’s poem – the two are perfect for one another.
It was easier to appreciate snow when we were children. We could play in it as long as we wanted and not have to worry about shoveling and sanding and driving. 🌲
That’s for sure – we never gave a second thought to snow. I was so disappointed when that wintry mix showed up this morning. There was a little ice at the Park, but it clear at my house. I had walked yesterday since there was massive flooding by Council Point Park and that part of the City, so I figured I could walk around it – turned out, from speaking to some homeowners, the inside flooded (sewage) in basements because three drains were broken and no water in the streets at all. Those poor folks – tons of furniture and other items out at the curb.
Sewage — what a nightmare! Our infrastructure sure needs a lot of attention, and updates to handle this weird weather. There is an apartment complex down here that seems to flood every time it rains heavily and it keeps making the news. Not sure what they’re going to do about it. I think we’re high enough up here to avoid that problem. We have clay soil so the heavy rain runs off of it, down to the creek. Our front yard is covered in moss, which I think is lovely, and no lawn mowing!!!
Yes, I feel for those people Barbara. The damaged items all at their curb and City property. That’s too bad about that apartment because they really have to locate their tenants for a while to fix it properly and how long could that take? After I had the two trees taken down in the backyard after the fire, I have lots of moss and new growth because it was too shady back there. But it is terribly uneven back there … I spend a lot of time dwelling on what to do with the yard now (as you know).
You could always give your yard back to nature, let her do all the work! 😉 Not sure what your neighbors would think, though. That seems to be the strategy around this place. We saw “leave your leaves” signs all over town last fall. It’s nice living in a suburb in the woods with no lawns or fancy gardens.
Yes, one side has a tall privacy fence and the neighbor behind replaced his stockade fence that burned, so that is tall. In between is a white lattice fence and my two large firebushes. When the shed was there I had total privacy from behind. So that leaves my neighbor Jeff only – he probably doesn’t care, but he said to me “if you plant bushes, you’ll encourage more large critters” … that worries me. I would like a more natural look – does everyone “leave their leaves” to help the small creatures that use them for protection in the Winter? I would like the lack of lawn out front. My lawn is not stellar looking. I used to fertilize it, but I burned it a few times, so stopped.
Chapel Hill, the city bordering our town, Carrboro, has this information on their website. They’re very serious about the practice and it looks like almost everyone participates.
https://www.townofchapelhill.org/government/departments-services/public-works/streets-and-construction/leaves/leave-your-leaves
That was interesting Barbara! I am the only one on my block that bags leaves – everyone blows them into the street and this year I just left them after the last clean-up. There were less out front since my neighbor cut her tree down and the same in the back from my two less trees. I never thought about leaves preventing flooding – good idea. I was amazed to read this: “Caterpillars and other insects are especially critical food for baby birds. A clutch of small baby birds such as Chickadees requires 6,000-9,000 caterpillars to grow to adulthood.” Where on earth do they find all the caterpillars? They must be in the grass. If I see one woolly bear per year, that’s it. Occasionally a yellow caterpillar that’s fuzzy. Thanks for the info.
You’re welcome! I knew there was a lot of food for the birds under those leaves but the numbers of caterpillars needed to sustain a chickadee family is utterly amazing! Finding food for survival is an all-encompassing activity for the animals, and us as well.
They are such little birds … I’ve never seen their young. All I see in the yard are sparrows and starlings these days. Yes, food for survival is difficult for all of use … sad times for all who depend upon nature to provide sustenance. I can just imagine how many crops will be ruined in California due to this atmospheric river – there goes the price of OJ. I drink V-8 so not a problem for me.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen baby chickadees, either. Sadly, I can’t drink either V8 or orange juice — too much fiber for my damaged gut. Sigh. That’s something about too much rain ruining crops. Too much and floods, too little and droughts. We need a network of pipes to deliver water in the right amounts to the right places. If we can lay miles of pipelines for oil, why not for water?
Sorry to hear that Barbara. A local farmer lost his entire strawberry crop last year and other farmers all helped to give him more plants – he was one of the largest U-pick strawberry fields around. I agree with you and they do most of it using computers now as well. I remember hearing a story about how a farmer set up his irrigation for his crops on a computer, and he could control all the watering in stages – it was incredible. It is important they do something with all the erratic weather anymore.