The Reindeer Keeper

If I am in the kitchen and happen to look out the window, more often than not these days I notice a robin, moving about and then stopping, then moving about and stopping over and over again in search of something to eat. I think it is the same robin that did the same thing last year at this time because that particular robin has taken up residence in the same nest as last year. I hope the robin can't tell I put a Christmas ornament in the nest. It made the perfect decoration with snow all around. Funny how the seasons slip in and out of our lives as we hurry about. One day you notice that mountain of snow that you thought would never go away has melted and grass is in need of cutting. Spring flowers have pushed their way through the cold, blossoming just when you need a bit of color in the landscape, and your heart. Yesterday my son Brian and I went on our favorite cruise, taking us through Amish country. Signs of spring were everywhere. Roadside stands were opening up. Soil was be...

  BUT THEN, LIKE MAGIC They say change happens right before our eyes. And more often than not, we never see it happen. For some, waiting for spring after a long, hard winter is tedious to say the least. One day brings sunshine: the next a blizzard. Ice covers the roads and sidewalks. Schools are closed. The wind howls. The temperature goes below zero. Oh, those heating bills. Then, the ice and snow turn to water flooding the basement. Snow piles turn into mud piles. Grass is scraggly and frozen in place. Shades of browns and greys; heaved roads, dirt and debris; cold winds, tired people still wrapped in scarves and wool hats and mittens all make it appear as if Mother Nature is asleep on the job. But Then, Like Magic, daffodils show their yellow faces, adding color to the dreariness. Robins come back. Crows squawk. Geese honk. Fields are being plowed. Tulips pop up out of the ground. The scent of lilacs is in the air, and then, more Magic. One day we go outside, and our hearts are ...

 When it got to be that time of the year, when winter was thinking of fading into spring, my cousins and I gave Mother Nature a hand in the process as it seemed pretty slow to us. Because we spent lots of time outside anytime of the year-lots of time in the fields and pastures, whether attempting to feed my older brother's black angus as pictured above or running through hayfields or running to our clubhouse or down to the creek, when the thought of spring was in the air, we pitched in to help that happen even faster than Mother Nature had planned on making it happen. Sometimes we'd start in the driveways. We'd go into my aunt's garage and bring out whatever we could find to chop through the ice and shovel the remaining snow away. Guess we thought we'd then be able to ride our bikes. Whatever we thought we'd be out there working hard with shovels and hoes. Part of the fun was etching little streams out in the melting snow, leading that water to a bigger pool of ...

For a few years, my now eight-year old granddaughter and I kept track of a bunny we'd see out back by the barn, hiding in the garden or hopping around and then disappearing in the rock wall. My granddaughter always felt the bunny was no ordinary bunny. She was convinced it was the Easter Bunny. When she was five we never saw the bunny during the summer, fall or winter. But the following spring when her little brother was here for an overnight, we both saw the bunny by the rock wall. We were so excited. I'd thought the worst had happened but the bunny proved me wrong. Adding to the excitement of seeing bunny, I'm certain I saw a few little ones scampering along beside her. Just before Easter that year, on a beautiful spring evening with geese flying and the sun setting over the fields, I went out back for a walk. I didn't get very far. As I came up the incline near the rock wall, I was astonished to find colorful, decorated Easter eggs lying in the grass. The...

I've been in my glory for a few months now, relishing in my favorite season where the colder it is, the better it is; the higher the snowbanks, the higher I'd like them to go. But I realize all good things do come to an end-for awhile that it is until Mother Nature brings Winter back around in all its freezing and slendid, breathtaking glory. Besides the calendar there are hints everywhere that this natural flow of events is about to happen. I've discovered tulips and daffodils peeking out from their winter beds. I've heard the honking announcements from geese high above. I've seen their majestic flocks and watched them land in precision formations in fields and along creek beds. Streams are flowing. Tiny buds on trees are breaking through and suddenly, my winter coat's too warm and my winter boots unnecessary. I feel I'm in dire need of a haircut and I have absolutely nothing to wear! It'd be so much easier if we could just keep things as they are....