Indiana Roadsides

by
Jean Hughes
April 8, 1996

Today, spring got the green light. Soft and balmy air was the first to breeze through.

What is it that invokes the wind until I receive the gentleness of April air? What makes the breeze feel fainter than gossamer?

The air hangs around my face in an aura. As though mesmerized, I stroll into the hills. The spring air is a panacea for every living thing today. Pink spring beauties, hepaticas in all the pastel colors and creamy bloodroots are all flirting with spring green.

Hillsides of snow trillium look as if stars have fallen to earth and taken root. At creekside, the water sings as sweetly as the birds. Frogs converse and skaters do wild water waltzes. The clouds reflect their beauty into the stream and the birds sing amid new leaves. The tree tops are a misty gold in the streaming sunlight.

I lie on a hill and let every facet of life soak in -- the sounds, the smells, the colors. What would life be without the beauties and joys of nature?

* * * It is not just warm winds and rain that make it April. It is also the small flowers of the woods, hurrying to bloom before leaves shade the hillsides, and birds arriving home after a winter in the south.

As I walk back toward my house, I think I hear a hawk call, but when I look up I can see only buzzards (turkey vultures). The hawk must be so high it is out of sight, for buzzards do not call.

Now, I hear a familiar voice. In the sassafras sits the double singer, a brown thrasher. He mimics cardinals and towhees and sounds so jolly that my heart does flips. Then I sigh, for from the field comes the sweet, clear song of a meadowlark. It is standing on a little rise, calling and calling.

Field sparrows have been whirling rain and sunshine into tintinnabulations of bird song all this week. I can hear a half dozen of these song spinners, but I cannot see even one.

As though granting a wish, one flies to a nearby bush. His beautiful pink bill glows in the sunshine.

Every day I appreciate my field glasses, but there is nothing to compare to seeing a bird with the naked eye. Not only do I get the beauty of the color and the song, but I get the feeling and the bloom of the bird. Its life reaches into mine and becomes a part of me. The life in any creature is not transferable to paper, film or recording.

I love to cook, but when flowers cover the hills I am grateful for casseroles that can be put in the oven then give me an hour out-of-doors with the wildlings.

Fillet Pizza Casserole

Layer in a 2 qt. greased casserole, in order given: 1 lb. thawed or fresh fish 
fillets, 15 oz. pizza sauce, 1/2 cup chopped green pepper, 1/2 cup chopped onion 
and 2 oz. drained mushroom pieces.
Bake, covered, at 350o for 1 hour. Top with 4 oz. grated cheese. 
Bake, uncovered, until cheese melts. Serves 4

At twilight, I sit on a small knoll beside the road to watch the stars come out. In the field, peepers are singing. When the first star appears, I make a wish to see a peeper, and if it could be singing it might just be the combination that would teach me how to fly.

All around me, woodcocks are buzzing and wing-singing, and one bat flies overhead. A robin sings just before the evening darkness. This morning I heard one sing into the dusk before the dawn. Robins must love the twilights, as I do. I wonder how robins know just when the light is ready to come over or go behind the rim of the world?

As I watch, every moment the beauty changes. Some of the changes are too swift and some are too slow for my eyes to see, but from my vantage point of this little spot of ground, I can feel love's handclasp. For those who revere God's earth and the life upon it, it always was and always will be there.

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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