A list of all the flowers by season, on bushes, ground covers, perennials, and annuals proved a basket of abundance, especially when I noted how many wild flowers add to the huge bunches.
I found a picture taken 15 years ago of the old crab apple tree in Vermont which grew higher than the roof gable, twenty feet beyond. Imagining its age I guessed 150 years.
When I wrote BENEATH THE TALL BLACK DOOR, nature parables about animals in our…..
I am daily encouraged and inspired by the daily talk with my pets. They even say thank you, I believe. Unafraid to make demands they give to me in eye contact, cuddling, licking my hand, pawing gently on my cheek. When they are thirsty they show me by circling the bowl; what fun to watch them focus on the mountain spring water pouring into the bowl.
Under the covers at night; a coil behind my knees, a plaintiff siren in…..
I have done my share, given my all. I have nothing more to say; therefore, I have faith that God will take and run with what I have created. My job is to watch with anticipation. Like the wildflowers planting themselves in perfect borders, scattering themselves for color contrast, grouping themselves for a bouquet–God will place my creation appropriately. I do have the responsibility to see it and believe it when I am unable to see it.
Do you care that you matter? I believe you do. As I consider my roots and generation, life work and region I wonder if I connect in the way all people need. Of course, I do not. What matters is not being all to everyone but being clear about myself. People can take away essence and arrive at the same place I am using a different path. However, I have honed in, refined, and fine tuned my path and message…..
Blue corn flowers flank the entrances to the east and west of the Apple Shed. How did they select and grow in the right places. I have heard a definition of wild flowers that says “they are flowers growing in the wrong places.” Mine are just right. Is it because I am wild? Are you in the right place and people think you are wild-eyed, wild haired? Hans is going to translate a German song about the corn flowers; it…..
My past is a stamp of me. It verifies me and sends me. Recently at the Chamber of Commerce honoring dinner I represented my father who had received the award for community service. At the beginning of mentioning former recipients, JACKIE KELSEY was called out. I stood because it was a singular naming just as I was alone. The time for looking at the group seemed embarrassing long to me so I stopped and sat down. They honored me while…..
The railroad burm is nearly covered with wild yellow flowers ready to bloom any day. I have mowed around the plants to make way for “ground sunbeams” on stems. Other wildflowers join them; two-foot blue cornflowers scatter the parking lot and line up along the edge. They planted themselves just like the purple sky rocket among the violets now finished. Purple displacing purple.
There is a curious two-foot graceful leaning wildflower with a pale yellow daisy- like flower which will…..
About the Author
Jacqueline K. Kelsey, Ph.D. is an alternative learner and leads others to connect and receive from out-of-the-way people in society. Her greatest teachers are humble people and animals. After a full career of teaching literature and writing in college and high schools, she became a teacher educator at the university level…