Nature's Gift

The weather is a hot topic as you've noticed! Or maybe I should say COLD. At any rate, it's just doing what it wants and is having its way with us. I thought I would continue showing more of the southwest part of the country that we live in.

These images are of the community gardens in an open space in Albuquerque that few folks even here know about. It is wonderful when flourishing, but even now a little time spent hiding out with the furtive birds will fill your soul for awhile.

People rent ground to grow things here. And there is always an unseen hand filling the bird feeders. Canadian geese and Sand Hill cranes hang out in the fields all winter, but they have almost all headed north again. 

I am thinking that the empty arms of the garden structures are like an abandoned grave site in an old western movie. But that's only my spring fever talking in my own old western town.

If we had rain it would be all green. Our temperatures have been in the high sixties for some time. But the gardens must wait for the yearly irrigation canals to be opened and flow from the river. And it is too soon for that.

Someone has turned dead branches, still rooted to the ground, into a bird feeder, and today it seems an artful object lesson for life. Something vague about lemons and lemonade, or use what you have, or building on the foundation of what has come before. . . .  

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I wanted a big seed head like this one at the start of winter for decoration but left it lying amongst the weeds for birds instead. This may have been the very one. Finding it again now that the seeds are gone feels like the universe answering a good deed. 

The gardens are full of hidden pathways and benches the patrons have made for everyone to enjoy. An excellent pew for contemplation or a picnic among the butterflies, roadrunners, and rabbits that make a home here. I love a romp with our little girls in our secret garden here in summer.

Someone I never met will come soon to prune the roses, plant some peas, or a row of onions. There is an honor system where no one ever harvests what is not their own. . . .  a little heaven on earth.

I tell people that I went straight from cabin fever to spring fever! But I am thinking of all of you still stuck knee deep in freezing temperatures and snow, and sending warm wishes your way.

Happy Weekend!

Jacqueline