WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND

There’s a character in W.O.Mitchell’s book Who Has Seen the Wind who lives out on the prairie outside of town in a piano box.  I can’t recall anything else about him except that he has been driven mad by the wind.  On days like today I think of him and feel a sense of connection.

I had plans.  This is a busy time of the year for a gardener.  There are trees to trim, weeds to discourage, and as always, there are dandelions to decapitate.  But, here I am, hiding out in the house because a few hours of working out there in yet another day of quasi hurricane winds and I’ll be looking for my own piano box.

I tried.  This morning, after more than an hour long pep talk, I wrote down an itemized list of what I wanted to get done, pulled up my big girl britches, and forced open my south-facing door so I could leave the house.  It took all my physical strength to get the door open and all my emotional fortitude  not to go right back in.

When the wind blows from the south in this yard the only ‘safe’ place is behind the house, so after one lingering glance over to the garden that needs weeding Plan B was invented and I made for the backyard.  I give myself extra credit that I didn’t go back inside to add this new job direction to my list just to give it more legitimacy.

 

I really didn’t have any particular job in mind until I got there.  I just wanted out of the wind, but lo and behold, there was a garden hose to roll up and put away.  People who know me are now laughing out loud.  As a general rule, being neat and tidy with garden hose is not my forte.

 

Also, tucked in behind the house is my small greenhouse, recently emptied of all its greenery.  That’s right: I’ve spent the past week carefully tucking hundreds of bedding plants into their forever homes just to have them threatened with frost for two nights in a row and now this crazy wind.  If I listen carefully I can probably hear their tiny cries for mercy.  The job at the very top of my To Do list was to do a walk around and see how all these babies were doing.  I can’t bring myself to do it.  I put them in the ground and tucked their roots in tight.  I just have to have faith they can hold on to the earth on their own.

But, at least there is a greenhouse to tidy up!  Trays to stack, unused pots to store away, shelves to clear off, floor to sweep; it took me all of 22 minutes.  It would have been less but I was texting with a friend at the same time and had to keep stopping to text her back – thank goodness for small blessings.

 But the work was done so I went back to the house to record these two jobs and then officially stroke them off my list.

It’s not even 11:00 yet, the wind is steady at 36 and gusting to 53; there’s got to be something I could do inside!

Well, besides housework that is.  I’m sick of that.

So, here I sit at my computer, telling you stories.

The dog is following me around looking pathetic because he wants to go out in that wind for a walk.  I’ve explained to him about the piano box thing but he seems unperturbed.