Seeing

"Vision is the art of seeing the invisible."  

-  Jonathan Swift

It was a typical weekend day in the yard.  I had to water and fertilize the garden, do some weeding, cut back the knotweed, and mow the yard.  This takes about 4 hours.  For some, it might seem like a lot of work, but I like it.  It is when you are deep in yard work that you truly see your yard.

I started with the tomatoes.  I had to stake them up some more.  As I was working in the tomato bed, I startled a garter snake sunning itself on the black weed cloth.  It then slithered away.  We have seen a lot of snakes this year.  It brought me a little joy to see the snake.

I brought out my trusty scythe, and went to knock back the knotweed by the creek.  I had completed a few strokes, when I notices a snail on one of the knotweed leaves.  This was the second time this year I had seen a snail in the yard.  I showed the wife the snail, took its picture,and put it back into the knotweed.

As I was cutting the knotweed, I noticed the sumac had set fruit.  Soon, I would be able to take the fruit clusters and brew some sumac tea (it tastes like a cross between iced tea and pink lemonade).

While trimming around the house, I came across a stray tomato plant growing by the trash cans.  I am not sure where it came from.  I has spread some compost around this part of the yard last year when I had put the stone in for the trash cans.  As  compost my tomatoes, I can only surmise it was a holdover from a previous year,

I had pulled weeds by hand around the barn.  I just threw the long grass and ivy into the yard where it would be chopped up when I came out with the lawn tractor.  While mowing the yard, I saw a robin grab one of the long pieces of grass.  I watched it fly around, and then fly up to a corner of the barn roof where it was making a nest in an overhang.

As  said, it is when you are deep in yard work that you truly see your yard.