Entry #2 Overlooking the Obvious

I went back to the meadow two days ago, and this time I brought my dog along. Her name's KD, she's a beagle, she's hilarious. Usually, when I bring my dog along for walks, I'll get mad at her because she's so pokey, and more often than not has her own idea about where she wants to go and will run off somewhere on her own and we'll "lose her" until she decides to come back home. That afternoon though, I watched her as we walked along, and of course she was being her usual pokey self, but as I watched her it seemed like she was looking for something, or looking intently, and closely at everything around her. I was kind of jealous. She was just immersing herself in the world around her, giving everything a closer look and really taking her time. Maybe she was looking for something. Maybe her dog's keen sense of smell tipped her off that something was nearby. Whatever the reason though, I was inspired. I wanted to slow down, and immerse myself in my surroundings taking the time to look at everything surrounding me. At first when I finally got to my exact spot, I sat down and though “What the hell am I going to focus on? There’s grass, and weeds, and plants, sun and sky.” But then immediately I was like “Well isn’t that enough?” So I went over towards the edge of the clearing where the jagger bushes (I’m from Pittsburgh sorry), Goldenrod, and other things I’m still working on identifying, form weedy walls to my little spot and stared within those walls. I noticed how the tops of the plants were so bursting with color and seemed to be full of life, but towards the bottom they seemed dead. When I peered through all of the dead stems though, I saw movement-a rabbit! Which apparently maybe obviously my dog saw too and she was off into the mini forest.

            So then I was alone and I sat back in the grass, and decided to give that a closer look. As I probably mentioned in my last post, the grass here is thick and rough, and almost hard. But I didn’t want to pull at it, or rip any of it out. (Honestly, I’m usually pretty careless about these things and not very mindful of things like that) so I carefully tried to part it and got down to the dirt.

            At first I was kind of taken aback when I got to the dirt, because it was really hard and dusty so going back to thinking about the greenhouse I though “Seriously, how did papa grow anything good here let alone bunches of beautiful plants?” But I dug a little bit with my finger and got past the dry dirt and into the rich soil and was pleased.

            Looking back, this should have been something obvious to me that obviously the dirt on top is going to be dry and “dusty” and that of course if weeds, trees, and other plants can thrive here-other things should be able to as well.

             I think sometimes we forget the basics of things, or overlook the obvious and simple things because we're so used to things being so complicated anymore. It's nice though to have those little reminders.

Some meadow pictures...I like to pretend I'm a photographer.

So I went back to my spot two days ago and here are some pics I took!

Time Travel

September

My meadow.
Where I live is kind of nice, because it's close enough to "civilization" but we're also pretty secluded by the trees that entirely surround our property (there is only my house, and my grandmother's house here). Consequently, most of the land is forest, but at the end of my yard, there is a meadow it's pretty vast and starts to ease up a hill. Sometimes my dad cuts paths with the tractor throughout the meadow. There's one particular spot though in which he cuts a small clearing, no one ever really goes there, unless passing through for a walk. It's nice though. This is the place that I have chosen. (This is going to be a real treat when the snow comes hah...)

Today is perfect. It's not too warm outside, and it's breezy. There's only one smallish tree in the clearing, but it provides just enough shade. The grass here is stiff, and itchy. Reminder next time to bring a blanket or something. At first I sat and wondered what to even think about, my brain is going a thousand miles an hour today, so maybe I'll just write a little about the history today.

The reason for the meadow (I mean, why it's not just yard or forest), is that my great-grandfather used to have a greenhouse here, about 50 years ago if I had to guess. He and my great-grandmother moved here when my grandma was a little kid to go into business with I think it was the Hahn family, to start a greenhouse. So there used to be a small cluster of buildings, and I think one or two more houses. In some spots when you walk around, you can find part of a wall, a scrap of some asphalt, or I've even found a few, small terra-cotta pots.

I was fortunate enough to know my great-grandfather when I was young, though he never told me about the greenhouses himself, and if he did I was too young to remember. He passed away when I was 7. Even though it wasn't a lot of time to know someone, I still wish he was around, and sometimes I get sad when I think about him. But, coming to this meadow I'm reminded of him and try to put myself back in time to when there was a greenhouse where I now sit, and imagine him watering plants, or planting them and imagine I'm there too.