Rise Up

To paraphrase singer Joni Mitchell, you don’t know what you’ve missed till it comes back. With the snow mostly melted at the cabin (until the next snowstorm) and warmer temperatures, I’m suddenly seeing and hearing birds that have been gone all winter.

This week I heard woodpeckers and flickers rapping on trees and telephone poles. Chickadees and flickers trilled, and I thought I heard the sound of the house wren, a warbling melody. While I was sitting outside basking in the sun, two young juncos paraded by my feet, with an air of self-importance, as if they knew exactly where they were going and what they needed to do.  

I saw my first chipmunk of the year and the first pasqueflower, a solitary one that was still closed but ready to open at any minute, just waiting for a bit of sun. My first water ouzel of the year flew down the creek and bobbed on a boulder.

I was surprised to see a brown butterfly fly past me. How could something so delicate emerge from this still harsh landscape where temperatures dip below freezing at night and the winds are strong enough to blow down a row of mailboxes?

At Wild Basin, a few hundred feet higher than the cabin, the creek is mostly melted, rushing down the mountain in brown roiling currents, partly fed by the two feet of snow that line the river. The ground plant that often stays green all winter, the kinnikinnick (above), has brightened up and shines in the dark woods.

As I walked up the road, trying to avoid the piles of snow while listening to the joyous sound of the creek, an orange butterfly flew up from the ground. It felt like spring rising up to greet me.

 

Comments

[richard]

delightful!

[shoney]

What a wonderful piece! Those magical butterflies! Thank you for helping find the joy.

[SusanR]

The memories come flooding from a very long time ago ... but you've certainly awakened them. As an aside, from childhood I've loved the name, the word "kinnikinnick." Funny looking, fun to say. ... and now that you've mentioned it, how DO butterflies survive freezing temperatures??

[Jennifer Woodhull]

You paint such a viscerally gorgeous picture with this post, Kathy. Thanks—I reckon we can all use the uplift.

[Kathy Kaiser]

Susan, good question about the butterflies. I'm not sure how they survive. They must take shelter--but in what? And I think kinnikinick--such a fun word to say--and I learned once that it's a native word.