When lilacs last in the backyard bloomed...

In the door-yard fronting an old farm-house, near the white-wash’d palings,
Stands the lilac bush, tall-growing, with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
With many a pointed blossom, rising, delicate, with the perfume strong I love,
With every leaf a miracle......and from this bush in the door-yard,
With delicate-color’d blossoms, and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
A sprig, with its flower, I break.

- Walt Whitman
When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloomed






Over the weekend I went to the far back corner of the yard, where the laurel bush that's on steroids is trying to take over the world. I happened to look up, and found myself staring at a profusion of white lilac that I hadn't known was there.

The lilac tree is almost 7 feet tall, but even so the laurel is trying to grow over and around it. The lilac blooms were showing through the leaves of the laurel bush.

I love that the back yard still holds surprises. Times like this, I get the urge to turn into a modern-day Thoreau and hang out with nature more and the modern world less. Dare I say it, to be a thoreau-back to old ways.

Okay, maybe I dare not say it. It's still a wonderful feeling to be able to walk into my back yard and be surrounded by all the beautiful things growing there.





Exercise du jour: Alas, no surprise here. It's another walking day. I'm going to walk to and from the Max station, and I've scheduled a walk at lunch, then I want to walk to the Weight Watchers meeting. Since I missed my regular meeting, I want to walk to one that's a bit farther away ("a bit" = 2 miles). Even broken up into segments, I figure that's good for at least a five-mile day. Maybe a bit more.

Done! Sorta. "No surprise here," I said. Oh, there's always room for surprise. Ended up getting up late & having to drive to work, then working late and missing Weight Watchers. The only thing that went as expected was the 2-mile lunchtime walk. Even so, even though I had to work another 12-hour day, and I've got a headache for the third day in a row, even so I am content. Because I'm finally done with the main draft of that blasted manual on that blasted project and I can actually Get Other Things Done! Unless my headache comes back tomorrow, in which case I'm calling in sick and not doing anything strenuous. Either way, it's going to get better from here on.