Indiana Roadsides

by
Jean Hughes
May 5, 1996

May is in bloom. My dooryard is a carpet of green grass, violets and creeping Charlie. It exudes perfume. I do not make excuses for loving May. Loving takes no earth time anyway.

Last night a whip-poor-will called from my roadside, and this morning a wood thrush pipes its first spring melody from the woods' edge. Sleek birds in new feathers skim around me and a meadowlark sings, "It's sweet to me. It's sweet to me." It is! It is!

* * * This morning, through binoculars, I watch the world of an ant that lives in a bit of moss on a far hillside. The tiny spring flowers are as tall as trees in its small world. A pencil-thin ant creek flows through its land. I could spend a whole lifetime watching the small creatures that creep and crawl, but they are but a part of the beauty and wonder to be found on earth and in the sky.

When the first spade of earth is overturned for the garden, I think of tomatoes, then of green beans. I have to make-do with last year's canned beans for this recipe.

Green Bean Casserole

Saute until golden: 4 T. butter, 1 large chopped onion and 4 oz. 
drained mushroom pieces.
Add and heat thoroughly: 1 qt. green beans and 1/4 cup walnut pieces.
Prepare a white sauce of: 2 T. butter, 2 T. flour, 1 1/2 cups milk and 
1/2 t. salt.
Add: 2 oz. pimento pieces and 4 oz. cheddar cheese shredded. 
Stir until melted.
Pour over hot green bean mixture in a serving dish.

As it does every year, the month of April leaves a lovely legacy to May. At the last moment, beauty creeps from the April woods out to the roadsides and up into the tree tops. New leaves give the hillsides a misty bloom. The tender green beginnings of hay fields stretch across the land.

In bird nests, hearts have begun to beat inside egg shells, and owl and pigeon babies are already born to this world, and are half grown. Bunnies are stuffed into furry holes, and fox and coyote pups are playing in sunshine and moonlight, and feeling their first rain.

Redbuds filter through the woods, and shadowy dogwoods gleam like botanic pearls in an enchanted forest. Their delicate petals spill color everywhere.

I crawl around in my yard, sniffing the violets and thinking how lucky I am that the lawn mower broke and I have been given another week to enjoy my shaggy yard before it is mowed. But nature is on my side. Mowing keeps the dandelions going. They fly to a mowed lawn like moths to a flame. The wild finds a way.

During my morning walk, a zebra swallowtail flies from the field, circles me twice and then flutters down the lane. A vireo sings from a branch near my head.

In the woods, there are so many new birds and so many new leaves to hide the singers that it is like looking for needles in haystacks to spot the singers. But one bird comes out to show himself and carols a variety of bird songs. It is my favorite mimic, a brown thrasher.

* * * Much of the beauty of the earth is missed by those who do not get out before daybreak and who do not stay out-of-doors in the evening until the sun has set and twilight comes. It amazes me that I missed 47 years of natural splendor before awakening to nature's magnificence. Now, each today is new-born and sings of life.

This

            This morning in its springtime-chilly coat.
            Blue sky that revels in a passing cloud.
            Tree tops that circle round the daybreak's throat.
            Pushed from the north, a wind that whistles loud.
            Larks flying from the open meadow grass.
            One towhee singing from its locust tower.
            Sweet violets nodding "morning' as I pass.
            Gold dandelions that rival Midas' flower.
            New masks, new birds, new blooms no eye has seen.
            Joy of the sun that gives the new-life ray.
            From my earth-spot my heart looks into green,
            And takes upon itself the awesome chore
            Of loving what has not been loved before.

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
Delphi, IN 46923

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