Seasons of Change Blog

My Favorite Columnist Passes Away

My Sunday paper told me the news.

The columnist I'd read with anticipation each and every Sunday for years had passed away at age 79.

I knew him as L.M. Boyd, the author of the Grab Bag column in the San Francisco Chronicle. It turns out his column was syndicated in 400 papers under different titles...Checking Up, Draw Up a Chair, Fact or Fancy.

No matter what the title, each column held a random collection of facts about nature, people, the earth, space, love, war, and everything else under the sun. I, of course, loved the nature bits. In fact my 'nature' folder is full of Grab Bags I pulled out of the paper over the years. In a series of one or two sentence entries he could share an amazing amount of information with a bit of humor woven throughout.

Boyd retired in 2000, so I won't miss his column...I finally stopped looking for it in the Sunday paper. What I will miss is knowing he is out there somewhere seeing life through his magical kaleidoscope filter that showcased so many wonderful elements of our world since the 60's.

A Delightful Sign of Spring

This morning when I let Aspen out for some play, I noticed a butterfly wafting around the yard.

My first thought...in January??

My second thought...a Mourning Cloak! I haven't seen one of these butterflies in decades. This particular one looked like a perfect specimen.

My third thought...one of delight as the butterfly nearly landed on Aspen! The butterfly flitted around for a minute or so, landed on the grass for a spell, and then flew over the fence to the neighbor's yard.

In reading the website for the butterfly, I learned they overwinter in the area rather than migrating or dying during the winter months. In some cases they'll hibernate in a tree cavity. An article in the San Francisco Chronicle indicated that a cold spell is what triggers these insects to prepare for Spring. In fact, the mild winter we had last year led to a dip in the population.

Ironically...the site indicated that one of the Mourning Cloak's food sources is Big Toothed Aspen! And at this time in his life, Aspen is all teeth at times!

Sorry I didn't get a photo of this moment...I knew I didn't have a chance...so I just watched and enjoyed the experience as it unfolded.

Reconnecting with Nature - the Aspen Way

In the five weeks since Aspen joined our household, I've reconnected with nature in a way I hadn't anticipated.

Thanks to Aspen, I'm spending time outside each and everyday...in all kinds of weather...at all times of day and night.

• I now know what time it is based on where the Orion constellation is in the sky.
• I've watched the moon go through its entire cycle.
• I've felt the crunch of heavy frost in the morning,
• I know how thick the ice gets on our fountain when the temperatures dip into the 20s and how long it takes to melt.
• I've gotten to enjoy the sound of falling rain while feeling it fall on my upturned face.

I can't wait until Aspen's had his last set of shots so that we can venture out to explore the neighbor and beyond!

Weird Weather!

Can you believe the weather over the last few weeks?

• A number of soggy storms in the Northwest
• Three blizzards and avalanches in Colorado.
• Spring like temperatures on the East Coast
• Warm Santa Ana winds that fanned a destructive fire in Southern California
• Unusually cold arctic air blowing into Northern Califoria

One wonders what is going on! Although I can't really comment on the scientific reasons for these unusual weather patterns, I can talk about how to interpret this within the Seasons of Change metaphor.

Within my Nature's Wisdom Deck, weather represents the emotions people feel during times of transition. As such, think of each geographic region as a demonstration of how a person responds to a transition.

• Some respond deeply to the transition, weathering storms of emotions and hunkering down to survive.
• Others may not be affected by the transition very much. They may move on with their lives with a spring in their step.
• Still others may find their lives are irrevocably changed by the transition.

When Parents Are Deployed

I was delighted to see that Sesame Street has created a show, When Parents Are Deployed, to help over half a million young children under five years old who are facing the deployment of a parent. 

In the show Elmo and and his father, who is in the Navy, come up with special ways to stay connected even when they are on opposite sides of the earth. Here are a few tips I gleaned from the news story I saw this evening.

• Saying goodnight to the moon each night...knowing the other person can also see the moon.
• Saying goodnight to a picture of the two of them together.
• Bringing the parent into the daily ritual several times a day.

Aspen's Work Day

After two weeks of vacation with our new puppy, it was time to get back to work. We weren't quite sure how Aspen would adapt to our need to focus on something other than him, but it's worked out pretty well.

Thanks to the new desk I got before the holidays, Aspen has a bed under my desk. At first we'd move his crate from the bedroom to the office to the family room. Where ever we were, he was. If he'd just been out we let him play outside the crate, but then he'd voluntarily go in his crate for his naps.