The news for 2019 is spring will come . . . sooner than former years, according to a groundhog. The Farmers Almanac is a bit more informative – but it will be a good long wait to play in the dirt no matter what a marmot or a farmer says!
Still, there are life lessons to be learned: shared wisdom, if you will. So, I am passing along Ms Aesop’s Fables (No. 2)included in a favorite reference book* for this day:
One day early in February, an elderly ground hog decided it was time to teach his son the family business from the ground up. So, he said, “Ewell, get up there and look around, and if you see your shadow, hurry home.”
Ewell took off. But when he saw his shadow, he thought, My, what a nice day to say up here and play in the sunshine! Which he did.
Meanwhile a bulldozer came along and bulldozed his old home into eternity right along with his parents to make room for a parking lot.
Moral:
If your ever manage to get out of the hole, stay out.
On Groundhog Day, as the temperature moderates, I look forward to a walk: being out and about in the sunshine. Walking in sunshine is a good ingredient to season this swiftly passing decade. So, too is the gratitude walking causes to bloom.
Just being able to haul myself out of my comfy armchair is a blessing I never knew would feel so rich.
Ballast may steady a ship, but in an autumn’s garden, it’s counterproductive!
On this Groundhog Day then, let me rememberer:
Daily walks with Doug, hanging on to his arm is a big blessing I count every time we venture forth. Maybe walking arm in arm forestalls the need for canes?
In the coldest February, as in every other month in every other year, the best thing to hold on to in this world is each other. ~Linda Ellerbee, Move On: Adventures in the Real World, 1991
Strolling on GROUNDHOG Day
*Peg Bracken, The I Hate to Cook Almanack, page 33.
Thank you for this lovely expression of gratitude, Barbara.
It reminds me of poem I very much like:
OTHERWISE
Jane Kenyon
I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.
Thank you for sharing your reflections and wisdom!
Thank you for the poem —
oxoxxoxoxo