A Stinky Surprise

I have written many slices from my front and back porches, and my time there continues to fill me with stories. 

Even stinky ones.

A few days ago, I was sitting on the back porch watching the Facebook live video with Kate and Maggie. Earlier that day, I had been watching a little bunny romp around the backyard nibbling on clover. 

As I was watching the video, I was zoned in when I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye. Thinking the bunny had returned, I continued watching the video, not paying much attention to it.

All of a sudden, I noticed that what I thought was the bunny had come very close to the porch. Like about ten feet close. 

When I looked up, my heart stopped, and I quietly sucked in a breath. Moving very cautiously, I grabbed my phone and computer and quietly went in the house.

"There are skunks in the back yard! One mamma and four or five little babies. They came right up to me!" I was a little freaked out to say the least, as that was the closest I had ever been to a skunk--let alone five of them!

My husband and daughter ran to the back door to see what I was panicking about. We watched them mosey around the backyard and eventually into a drainpipe that runs under our street. 

This weekend I have sat on the porch every night and waited for them to come out. Every once in a while, when the wind was just right, I detected a faint scent. They hadn't sprayed, but I knew they were near.

About 9:00 pm, one by one they crawl out of the hole with their little bushy black and white tails waving in the air and nuzzling the ground searching for bugs to eat.

We live in town, not the country, and skunks are not what we want right outside our back door. But I have to say, those babies are adorable!

We obviously don't want five skunks in the neighborhood, but we do not have a plan yet to remedy this problem.

So, until then, I will continue to sit on my porch and watch them come out and play...from a safe distance, of course!

 Thank you Two Writing Teachers for creating a space to share our stories. 

Solace & Connection {8}

    

Welcome to this week's nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. Each week, I will post a round-up, and you just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature:  prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. 

This week's inspiration doesn't come from a source, but a time of year. The summer solstice is on Wednesday, June 21st. What inspiration can your draw from this "longest day of the year?"

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Today, I leave you with pictures I took this weekend from my front porch, my favorite place in my home. Many stories come from my porch AND from these pictures. But I will wait on those for slices of life on Tuesday.

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Waiting

I wrote a slice, "What's That Smell," during the March Challenge about a plant I have had since 2008 from the funeral of either my dad or my father-in-law. 

It wasn't doing too well, so I brought it home from school, placed it in a bucket of water, and I waited.

And waited.

After the root system became stronger and to try and save it, I cut all the leaves off and planted the roots deep in the dirt in a new pot. I placed it in the window in my office where the late afternoon sun comes in, and I waited.

And waited some more.

This was one of those situations where I knew I did what I could, and I just hoped for the best! 

I wish you could have seen my joy two months later when I began to see tiny green leaves poke their heads out and begin to unfurl from the dirt. 

Even from the most difficult challenges, new life can begin again if the conditions are right. Somehow this plant reminds me of my students, and I am sure there is a metaphor growing deep in this dirt about teaching. 

But I will wait for that writing muse to find me as I watch this beautiful plant continue to grow.

I am trying the same procedure with another plant that has sat on the corner of my desk since my first year of teaching (18 years ago) and is not doing well. 

And so...I continue to wait.

 Thank you Two Writing Teachers for creating a space to share our stories.

Solace & Connection {7}

     

Welcome to this week's nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. Each week, I will post a round-up, and you just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature:  prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. 

This week's inspiration comes from The Curious Nature Guide by Clare Walker Leslie where she encourages us to take a night walk. "Let your eyes and mind adjust to being out after dark. How do the smells, sounds, and colors of night differ from those of daytime? Which of your senses feel most alive?"

I hope you take some time this week to take a night walk and spend some time with the night sky. 

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When my children were younger, we would always try to be the one to see the first firefly of the season. Now that they are adults, I still text them when I see my first one. This past week, I was sitting on my back porch, and it was dark. Although I have seen a few fireflies, they have not been in abundance yet. 

I looked over in the line of white pines, and the fireflies were putting on an early show. There were only a few, but they were dancing with partners and entertaining me with their lights. I wrote a cherita, a poem consisting of a one-line stanza followed by a two and three lined stanza and also tells a story.

Fireflies 

waltzing with their partners

between the white pines,

perform against 

the dark curtain of nighttime

in three-quarter time.

Image by Monika from Pixabay

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A Morning Chuckle

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating this space to share my stories.

Sitting at my dining room table eating breakfast and reading the online edition of the newspaper, I hear screaming. I can tell it is one of the two young neighbor girls, but it isn't a "give me back my toy" scream. Or a "wee this is fun" scream.

It is a scream of terror. 

I jump up and open the door. I listen trying to understand what is going on.

The screaming continues, but all of sudden I hear the mother say, "It's not going to hurt you." 

I peer through the white pines that create a border between our two yards, and I see what is creating the fear.

A chicken.

Last night, our neighbors brought home chickens, and the chicken coop is between our two yards. I saw the girls out talking to the chickens, peering into the "chicken house" and taking a picture of their "first day" with the chickens. All of this mixed in with squeals and giggles.

But morning brought a different scene. I know nothing about chickens, so I am guessing this was the first morning for feeding them and maybe gathering eggs. 

And I don't know who was more afraid:  Violet or the new chicken!