PAM SHENSKY
BERRY TALES

In my last article I was waiting for Christmas, in this one, I am saying good bye. I have, by now, put away each of Elizabeth’s snow angels and gingerly wrapped the wisemen and shepherds.

I have carefully coiled the colored lights and taken the knit stockings from their nails on the mantle and the glass bulbs are back in their cardboard box; another year of memories has been packed away. I am here on this winter day looking ahead, with optimism, to the fresh new year.

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While I spend some time looking back and am thankful for the family and friends that garnished the season, I also look forward, just a bit, with the wisdom I have acquired from one more year of being here.

The weather has been so random this past month, but today looks like winter. I can see the little winter birds that seem to make the ground quiver underneath my kitchen window. They are almost unnoticeable until they decide, in unison, to move.

They are so busy and joyful in the moment, foraging and feeling a bit of the winter sun, enjoying the moment. The winter landscape from my backdoor is beautiful; the trees are showing what they are made of, and the fields are barren and monochromatic. I am certain the raptors in the air love this simplistic arrangement where field mice and bunnies become easy prey.

The Old Moon came out on the 10th and Arbor Day here in Louisiana will be on the third Friday of the month. I hope we can all plant a seedling (or two) to help replenish what Gustav has taken from us.

I am enjoying this quiet time in winter, it is a place to slow down and to review the past and perhaps (loosely) sketch in a few resolutions for the future.

Nature is especially becoming here in January; she allows us to see her in her barest moments and reveals secrets that are other times cloaked with foliage and brush.

I have discovered that this peaceful place of reflection and life at a slower pace is possible only within the perimeter of my house, for once I left (before the new year had even begun), I found myself surrounded by red candy hearts and purple plastic beads.

No wonder time flies, we are being force fed the next retail holiday before we can even put away the good dishes from the last. I feel deprived of those moments, of that time, to absorb and infuse ourselves with the season at hand. The bottom line rules.

On this January day, in this new year, I am still hopeful to spot a “snowbird” that may be visiting here in the South and I will continue to scatter bird seed and memorize the winter landscape and perhaps see it again in a painting, and I will slow down with the early night and read and listen to James Taylor when he sings Secret O’ Life and wonder.

I will make many lists about things to do and better ways to live in the new year. I will walk to the mailbox to gather seed catalogues and plan my garden and sometimes, in February, I will look forward to Valentine’s Day.

PAM SHENSKY is the mother of five and a teacher at New Iberia Senior High.