Archived Thoughts for 02/12/06

Thoughts of a Rural Woman

February Wake Up
by The Editor, Rebecca Brown

I've got Daisies - Bellis perenis popping open their flowers
Daffodils - Narcissus bulbocodium var. conspicuus; jonquilla; poeticus; odorus & Chives - Allium are racing for the Sun
Indian Plums - Oemleria cerasiformis putting on buds
& the stinky Herb-Robert - Geranium robertianum is leafing out.

As a giggle against all the current author “outings” re: “not so real memoirs” -- would my billets-doux to the rainforest of Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, be any less sweet were I to be, say, holed-up in a basement rec room in Hoboken, New Jersey, with a neglected, dirty snow-covered school yard as the only greenery around?

Don't get your knickers in a twist -- I really, really do live out here with the Mosses - Sphagnum
Liverworts - Hepatics
Ferns - Sporangia
Lichens - Lichen & Platis matia
among all the trees
Red Alder - Alnus rubra
Cascara - Rhamnus purshiana
Red & Yellow Cedar - Thuja plicata & Chamaecyparis nootkatensis
Cottonwood - Populus balsamifera
Crabapple - Malus fusca
Dogwood - Cornus nittallil
Douglas & Grand Firs - Pseudotsuga menziesii & Abies grandis
Holly - Ilex opaca & I. aquifolium
Big Leaf Maple - Acer macrophyllum
Vine Maple - Acer circinatum
Mountain Ash - Sorbus sitchensis, & the many, many Willows - Salix hookeriana; S. lucida; S. scouleriana; S. sitchensis.

Mock Azalea - Menziesia ferruginea really are putting on buds
& the evergreen Blackberries - Rubus discolor; R. laciniatus; R. ursinus; R. lasiococcus; R. pedatus really are crawling all over themselves.
Evergree Salal - Gaultheria shallon & Rhododendron Rhododendron macrophyllum really are crowding around the islands left by the stumps of first growth Western Hemlock - Tsuga heterophylla & Spruce - Picea sitchensis
Elderberry - Sambucus racemosa, Twinberries - Lonicera involucrata, Salmonberries - Rubus spectabilis & Thimbleberries Rubus parviflorus really are showing their green, already.

It's a month-&-a-half since Winter Solstice, the longest night or the shortest day, & I've noticed the Sun's setting later & later through the conifer copse in back of us. Because, out in the depths of the wilderness, night never really gets as dark as in the city, I haven't noticed it rising any earlier -- we're coming out of one of the wettest Januarys on record & the clouds of the great Pacific storms keep us covered morning, noon & night. The last Moonset I watched was before the Holidays.

Coming out of a 48 hour power outage as a mighty Pacific wind storm roared over us, scattering thousands of twigs everywhere, I've been out raking them up & greeting all my friends after their sleep.

How's the world by you?

“We may prefer to think of ourselves as fallen angels, but in reality we are risen apes.” Desmond Morris.

Rebecca