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Calls from mumbletypeg knives, baseballs, marbles and skip ropes fill the air. Fishing poles holler from closets. Seeds rustle in their packets. I need to feel soil sifting through my fingers, and my heart craves flower-covered hills. It is cloudy this morning and the crows are out cawing directions. Mourning doves coo from the woods' edge. A towhee calls his name as he flashes through the roadside branches. Cardinals, in their brilliant courting feathers, sing every song in their repertoire.
Raindrops, warmed by a southern wind, shower through the rose bushes that line the roadway. They tap on last year's fallen oak leaves.
A mist rises from the fields. Walking in the light rain, with the soft wind brushing my face, I do not have to go looking for springtime. It finds me.
The beginning of spring is made more of wind and rain than of sunshine. It is the time of the rushing of snow-water as it floods the creeks, waves over the rocks and slaps the sandy shores.
These are the days of wild bird songs, fieldfuls of robins digging worms, breezes that blow bubbles in the riverlets that run in the ditches along the roadsides. When the sun shines through the clouds, it gives a glory to everything. Even mud looks beautiful.
In a large bowl, mix: 1 cup warm water and 1 pkg. yeast. Add, and beat 3 minutes on medium stop of mixer: 2 T. softened butter, 1 T. sugar, 1 1/2 t. salt and 1 1/2 cups white flour. By hand, stir in: 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour. Knead in the bowl for 1 minute. Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until double. Knead down lightly and shape into a long roll. Cut the roll into 16 pieces. Roll each piece between your hands until pencil slim. Tie into a knot. Place knots on greased cookie sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1/2 hour. Turn oven to 375 degrees. In a 2 qt. pan, heat: 2 cups water and 3 T. baking soda to boiling. Gently place knots, one at a time, into the water. With a slotted spoon, splash water over the top of the knot. Remove from the water and place on greased cookie sheets. When all knots are on the sheets, sprinkle them with 1 or 2 T. coarse salt. Bake immediately at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Turn off the oven. Allow knots to remain in the oven, with the door slightly ajar, for 10 minutes. Remove and cool on racks. These pretzels are good warm or cold.
Today, I scoot down the hillside and around a hidden corner to a big tree. In its tangled roots the first trillium usually blooms. There it is! The wild miracle of blossoms is beginning again. The rainbow is ready to splash over the land. Once more, I am to be given the smells, the colors, the sounds, the feelings and the beauties of an earthly spring.
My heart and I pirouette through the hollow and along the spring-fresh creek. I whirl until I am worn out, then I lie down at the bottom of the cool hill.
I've found a word that describes this place. It connects me with all people who have ever loved the twilight of each day, as I do.
The native Americans, who lived before my time in the Ozark hills of Missouri, called a hollow a konisha. But if the hollow was so deep that twilight lingered there all day, and the place held the hush of a sanctuary, that special, extra-wild, place-always-twilight was called a koni-konisha.
There are many such places in my hills, such twilight hollows. It is in these subdued places that I find the earth to be the most beautiful. In the evening, when I walk my road, there are some moments when the whole earth is my koni-konisha -- my dim and quiet place.
Jean's book of ramblings and recipes "A Country Mile of Winter" and her book of poetry "The Earth's My Home" are available for $4.95 each plus $1.30 for postage and handling. Her nature letter "Diary of a Back Yard Naturalist", published 5 times yearly, is available for $12.50 per year. Ten of Jean's favorite recipes will be included free with each book or nature letter ordered. Order from...
Country Mile Publications
616 E. Monroe St.
Delphi, IN 46923