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The Fifth Season
The season is new - Fwing. In real time, it is winter. It is sunny and the sky is clear blue. Buds form more fully every day on tree branches and bushes, like in spring. Our dryish lawn remains green rather than being covered with the normal two feet of cold snow. Piles of brittle rust colored leaves cluster in lines of autumn character against the base of the woodpile and shrubs. The neighbor's lawns look straw colored, like fall. Our dog continually gathers shreds of leaves and twigs in his long black winter coat on tummy and legs and brings them into the house, where throughout the day, crispy reminders of his walks in the yard drop on carpets and kitchen floor. My least favorite constant companions of this new season are broom and vacuum - five months, about six times a day, as compared to the usual one month.
No children in our midwest neighborhood wear snowboots or snowsuits this January. The older kids, shortsleeved, collect in driveways and play, mostly basketball. A nearby park, yesterday, hosted bands of elementary age pals, out for laughter filled hide-and-go-seek games, and races down sloped lawns to the grandstand at the bottom of the hill. Sleds they received for Christmas gifts remained home with their mittens.
Though a sparkly frost crunched underfoot this morning, as I walked with the dog, and two inches of water in our garden pond appeared frozen, sparrows twittered to the morning sun knowing they would bathe very soon. Cold ground, warm face, FWING it is then, the fifth season in Iowa, USA - Fall, Winter, and Spring, all in one.
This is my first FWING. I like it. I'll rake leaves today, put Christmas lights away, and sip lemonade from a tall glass that sports a tiny paper umbrella, outside, on my Iowa porch.
This is my first FWING. I like it. I'll rake leaves today, put Christmas lights away, and sip lemonade from a tall glass that sports a tiny paper umbrella, outside, on my Iowa porch.
Toni Wheat, copyright, Jan 10, 2011Sioux City IA
