Indiana Roadsides

by
Jean Hughes
July 3, 1995

Honeybees hum over the white sweet clover. Wheat fields are the color of golden-brown buttermilk biscuits. Trumpet vines hang on fence posts, waiting for the wind to use them as its instruments. Tall yellow candles of mullen light the roadsides.

Vervain and chicory blossoms sprinkle lavenders and blues among the golds. Every time there is a slight breeze, milkweed blooms perfume the air. Queen Anne's lace decorates fields and road edges. Cornfields sway slowly, like green oceans.

After the madness of spring, July, the tranquil, first-of-summer month, lets me draw a slow breath.

In summer, when it is too hot to stand over a griddle, I use my English muffin recipe to make small loaves of bread. My family likes this bread toasted.

English Muffin Loaves

Soften in a large bowl: 2 pkgs. yeast in 2 cups warm water.
Add and beat in well: 1/2 cup soft shortening, 4 t. salt, 1 T.
sugar and 3 cups flour.
Gradually add: 2 1/2 to 3 cups more flour.
Add: 1 cup raisins, if desired.
Knead in bowl to a stiff dough.
Divide dough into three pieces and place each piece in a
well-greased 1 lb. coffee can.
Cover, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. 
Remove from cans and cool on a rack.

At twilight, I sit on my back porch. The earth is beautiful tonight. I spend a few moments in nostalgia. It will be another year before I see another spring.

I recall gentle moments: the peepers who quieted whenever I came near; the gray fox whose eyes met mine in a wild exchange; the frog who sang a jews-harp tune along my roadside for only one night; the woodcocks flying their love rounds, their wings singing their mating songs; V's of geese paddling and crying through the spring air; the music of the frogs in the bog as they awakened from their muddy sleep; the first spring flower and the coming of the lush green that has enclosed my world; the whippoorwill who flew out of the bushes and circled my head so closely that I could have reached out and touched him; the blossoms and the fireflies in the rose bower on the full-moon, June night; and the moments of stillness, the quiet moments of stillness found in the woods in springtime.

And now comes summer, filled with so many new joys that there are almost no moments available for remembrance. It takes all of my attention to live each new day and to cherish each drop in the bucket of my time.

These are the days of daisy bouquets. Even though the flowers grow in profusion, it is a single blossom that catches my heart.

To Bee

        Today, I watched a daisy grow.
        It got its petals from the snow.
        Its stem and leaves from earth were won.
        Its center is a piece of sun.
        I did not take it from the dew.
        It needs the earth to live. I knew
        I did not want it to pick me.
        And so I left it there-to bee.

* * * The sky is star-filled tonight. Fireflies lightning-streak across the dark. I look at my hills, my home, and wonder at the ages that culminate in this night, in all the life on earth and in me.

The new moon rises. It is too much. I cup my hands and call to the hills, "Beautiful! Beautiful!" Echoes bounce back across the hollows, "Rejoice! Rejoice!" I do! I do!

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, Indiana 46923

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