by
Jean Hughes
November 13, 1995
A day left over from spring has blown into the hills. I walk through a field where the grass has a purple hue and find one late yarrow just opening its blossoms. A blue jay sings its melodious four-note song and then whirls into the woods. One cricket chirps in a low, slow voice, and one grasshopper zings from brown stalk to brown stalk. A lone butterfly wings through the tree tops.

I am walking the path to the little creek to check on the progress of a new resident -- a beaver. This animal engineer has made swift changes in Karen Creek that have far-reaching effects on the habitats of all other creatures who live nearby. It has also made it impossible for me to walk in the stream in this area, for now the water is over my boot tops.

After checking on how many trees have been downed and how the beaver's small pond has changed, I wade along through the shallows and sit on a small island.

I am near a place that birds use as a natural drinking fountain. Birds have favorite places just as you and I do. The birds who frequent this place are those who live here all year round, the ones I know the best and so love the most.

Cardinals play chase through the small trees. A titmouse stops on a low branch. A nuthatch fusses along a limb, and a downy woodpecker scampers up a tree trunk. A towhee flicks across the water. Juncos tick overhead, leaving the image of their white tail feathers dancing before my eyes.

Above me is a small, dead, fallen tree that is caught in the fork of a neighbor. One of its branches has broken off and there is a small hole in the center. A chickadee lights at the opening. It is his doorstep. He slips inside, snug in his one-room log cabin.

Only my old friend Bal is with me today. All the other dogs are off with the children. She lies beside me and we are as quiet as a leaf or a rock. The birds treat us as if we were a part of the natural surroundings, which we are.

This is a day when it is hard to go back home, but there is dinner to prepare. I am fortunate to have a kitchen with big windows from which I can watch the birds and the sky while I work.


My mother has come to visit for the winter. She is 80 years old and is still as full of fun and surprises as she has always been.

Last week, I brought some watermelon pickles from the basement, and she remarked, "We should use some of them for a pie."

I was astonished! I laughed and said, "Where did you hear of that?"

"I didn't," she replied, "but I know they would be delicious in a mince pie." She was right.

Watermelon Pickle Pie
Prepare pastry for a double-crust pie.
In a saucepan, boil together for 1 minute: one - 9 oz. pkg.
 condensed mincemeat, crumbled and 1 1/2 cups water. 
Remove from heat and add: 3/4 cup watermelon pickles and 
2 T. pickle syrup. Cool.
Pour cooled filling into bottom crust. Add: top crust, 
sprinkle with sugar and prick.
Place a strip of foil loosely around edge of crust.
Bake at 425o for 30 minutes.
Note: My watermelon pickles are candied, and no extra sugar was needed.
Taste filling before cooling and add brown sugar if necessary.

This weekend I was walking through the field with a friend when five buzzards (turkey vultures) came around the bend of the sky. I ran toward them with open arms, crying, "Watch me call them." Without a sound from me, they changed course and flew overhead. I turned and said, "Not everybody can silently call buzzards." "No," my friend replied, laughing, "nor would want to!"

To me, a buzzard in flight is God's most graceful creature. Like all humans and animals, every bird has a reason for being and a gift. Buzzards not only do a necessary job, but the gift of exquisite flight is theirs. I look down on no form of life because of what it does for a living. We are all a part of a plan that is greater than ourselves. Yet, we are all unique and special. Who but a Creator who loves us all could make such a fantastically intricate and interdependent plan?

Copyright 1995, Jean Hughes.

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. Ten of Jean's favorite recipes will be included free with each book ordered. Order from...

Country Mile Publications
616 E. Monroe St.
Delphi, Indiana 46923

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