by
Jean Hughes
April 15, 1996
A brilliant double rainbow comes to hail the spring. I stand in a brisk wind to watch the sun and rain make their sky-magic. The black sunset clouds and every leafless tree are silver lined. The walnut tree by the chicken house is silhouetted under the canopy of the rainbows.

A Baltimore oriole flies to the tree top. The rainbows and the color on the oriole's breast are deep and steady, until the rainbows begin to fade in and out, in and out.

As the bright-burning sun drifts away, the oriole flies and the rainbows vanish. Now comes one of those pastel twilights, when earth, sky and air all have a rosy hue. I am drenched in April!


The bread recipe I am sharing this week makes especially good toasted cheese sandwiches.

Susan's Buckwheat Bread
Mix together: 3 cups white flour and 3 cups buckwheat flour.
In a bowl, mix: 2 cups flour mixture, 3 T. sugar, 2 t. salt, 
1/4 t. baking soda and 1 pkg. dry yeast.
Heat to 120 degrees: 2 cups buttermilk and 1/3 cup butter.
Mix together liquid and ingredients in bowl. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed.
Add: 3/4 cup flour and beat for 2 minutes on high speed.
Add enough of remaining flour to make a workable dough.
Knead dough for 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl and allow to 
rise in a warm place, covered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until double.
Punch down dough. Make into 2 loaves and place in greased bread pans. 
Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until double, about 1 hour.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes or until loaves sound 
hollow when thumped with the finger.

It is early morning and I walk my road. The daffodils are opening their blossoms. The oriole sings in the hollow. A white-throated sparrow joins the song. In the field, are white flashes of flickers. They fly to the roadside trees, calling their names. A brown thrasher flies low over my head and I hear his melodious mimic song. I see him move from one tree top to another, singing a different tune to each sassafras.

I mosey over the meandering edges of my hilltops. There are miles of these ridges on my land. With every step the vantage point is different. Each hollow has its hums and songs and flowers. The joys of spring expand inside me like a whirling cloud. Life pours from the earth, bursts from the hillsides and engulfs me in song.

I have broken the confines of composure and traded them for nature's bounteous joy. Whenever I get a waft of a heavenly scent, I sniff every flower and tree until I find its maker. I have found a hillside covered with hepatica and I lie among the blossoms and laureate the prayer of spring perfume.

* * *
This morning, I walk to a place beside the creek where I can see pussy willows. I splash along in the water, trying to catch the beauty of the minnows swimming around my feet.

I stop and sniff the air. If I were a robin I would sing rain. My dog, Bal, has her nose up for sniffing too. I say to her, "Old friend, I'm learning. Yes, I'm learning what a nose knows."

I've found within these hills a wildness that I never want to lose. I'm being tamed by flowers, birds and water, tamed to the tough and gentle brotherhood of earth. I can feel the love here in the beauty of sight and sound.

Requited Love
         There is no way to stop the gift of love.
         When that sweet ecstasy is set in motion,
         A drop becomes an ocean.
         When my heart hears the first birdcall of spring,
         The sound is background music all day long.
         A note becomes a song.
         When first I see a blossom on a hill,
         The brown hillside becomes a sylvan room,
         An amaranth of bloom.
         When winter snows thaw down into the hollows,
         I hear the trilling languages they speak
         To riverlet and creek.
         My heart breathes love like mammal lungs breathe air.
         To all things that I can I give my living.
         The love is in the giving.
         There's no such thing as unrequited love.
         And truly loved, the true heart cannot sever.
         A love's a love forever.
Copyright 1996, 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