Summer 2023

 It's summer 2023 and today I drove my lawn tractor around the yard creating patterns of green and gold in circular swirls at different intervals.  My yard is not a level yard.  It has hidden within it many dips and drops that makes artistic lawn work interesting.  Amongst the green of my lawn there is the New England Rock Garden that grows and changes it's face with each winters expansion and contraction.  Every spring I begin walking the yard, and into the summer I inspect then begin the process of molding the yard to make driving the tractor a productive and safe affair. Yard rocks are sacred things. Driving over one and scarring it destroys the looks of the yard and wrecks the deck on the mower.  Knowing where the rocks are and how to avoid them is the best preventative medicine for good yard maintenance.  

Summer 2023 and I'm still waiting for my flying car.  They've developed robot technologies to mow our lawns, why not my flying car?  That whole fiasco with the Jetson's when I was a kid was just a tease to get the imagination flowing from a group of unsettled teens.  Now that we all expect our flying vehicles they pull the rug right out from underneath our feet.  Robot mowers and no flying car, even the Tesla doesn't fly.  Musk is part of the conspiracy.  How bout a flying lawn mower.  I rather enjoy driving my little tractor, why not fly one.  It wouldn't have a problem with rocks, it would glide over them.  The thought is so incredible that the anticipation is down right unbelievable. 

Summer 2023 and I'm only working one day per week till school starts again.  The thought of all this extra time has my head spinning.  What shall I do.  Not a dang thing!  That's the first thought. Let's hope the weather agrees with all.

Peace and Balance,

John 

The Art of the Kite.

 I'll just bet that most folks don't realize that April is National Kite Flying Month.  This is the time of year that has been set aside for loyal kite flying kids and adults that what to enjoy the first breath of Spring and the warming breeze to loft their flying creations.  April is when the Earth begins waking and taking that first stretch into full fledged Spring.  

Although April is the official Kite Flying Month, depending upon where you live will determine the reality of your kite flying abilities.  Here in Northern New Hampshire the winter weather tends to hold out through the month of April and we'll have to wait for May to come around in order to push our Dragons, and Phoenix's into the heavens for all to see.  In New Hampshire during the month of May, Mother Nature opens her eyes and looks upon her inhabitants and either blesses them with good kite flying weather, or coldly destroys all hope of spreading visions of the mythological creature kites.

When I was a young'un,  my Dad taught me how to make a kite using an old newspaper, a few sticks of Balsa wood, some string, and a dab of glue.  Usually these creations flew better than the store bought kind, and if you were creative enough you could make them look very mythological on your very own.  Creation at its Springiest.  

The older kids would deck their kites out with a steering mechanism and wax up their strings to do, "Battle".  Kite battling became a serious competitive sport.  The idea was to either crash your kite into the opponents kite causing a catastrophic malfunction, usually ending in the demise of both kites, or do fly buys with sufficient enough force as to cut the string of the opposing kite.  This got sneaky.  Some of the more disreputable flyers would line their strings with fishing like, pieces of wire, and or little tiny sharp things that would make their string into a saw or knife.  Winner take all.  

Some of the more ingenious kids in the neighborhood would figure out how to turn their kites into bombers and attach water balloons to them and drop them on poor unsuspecting viewers on the grass below.  This was before the days of paint balls and practiced urban warfare.  

Kite dog fights and bombing missions would last all summer until the Fall came and the air became cold and forbidding.  In Montana when the air gets cold all you can hear is teeth chattering and the shivering of birds.  This is the first sign that they will be escaping South for the winter. 

So, whether you start flying in April, or May.  The sky is the limit of what you can do with a really well made kite.  No pun intended.

Peace and Balance,

John 

Spring

 

Spring has come.  The weather is turning and we in the North Country are beginning to get that familiar feeling that draws us out of doors.  For me Spring always brings with it a great yearning to go out and work on the yard, clean up stuff that needs cleaning up, and begin that process in the body when Vitamin D is produced.  Spring is the harbinger of Mother Nature's paint brush.  When the Sun rises higher and the temperatures go up we know it's time for the flora to bloom and paint our landscape with the colors of nature.  

Spring is also the time with the fauna awakens and creation is in the air.  Look into the woods and you might see a wobbly legged fawn or a baby bear rolling in the grass.  There will be insects buzzing, bees fliting from flower to flower pollinating the world, and warm breezes traveling through the valleys.  

There may be the threat of occasional snow.  The wind might get cold for a brief interlude and skies might darken, but then the Sun shines down upon the land chasing the snow away, and warming any cold air to a tolerable almost imperceptible version of it's former self.  This is the struggle at the beginning of Spring.

Mornings tell us to dawn our jacket, and afternoons ask us why we have it on.  We are confused by the transition and aren't quite sure what to do.  Eventually however this confusion wanes and we know that it is indeed Spring time, and it is time to put the coat away and replace it with the wind breaker.  

Spring is also the time of year when we all get that urge to fly.  Our creative juices begin to flow and we put pen to paper, bring out the scissors, the string, and a few sticks, and put together a wonder of modern man, the kite.  As the air warms the currents of this air rise creating the perfect up lift for flying our Kite, the Dragon Mark IV.  It's a wonderous sight.

Spring is the time for Creation, the time for Wonder, when the Imagination grows and integrates into our souls.  We are the painters of our own existence, we create Spring.  Just like an adolescent God, we have tantrums and the thunder rolls.  Then it quiets again, Sun rises high, and the Butterfly sings.

Peace and Balance,

John