The Seasons
February / March
Roses bearing masses of blooms, their fragrance rising like a visible mist in the warmth from the late afternoon sun pervade our pergola. During rain showers, Terry and I have worked in the garden, moving logs from trees recently felled by the tree surgeon. The cats wind their way through the fallen cut branches disappearing within their cool damp depths to stalk the wilds of the tall grass for rodents and lizards.
Later, our work complete, we sit in the warmth of the afternoon sun under the pergola. The refectory table dappled in sun and shade. We sample local cheeses with French bread and Australian red wine. The tops of our wine-glasses reflect the light, while their depths glow blood red. Magpies corrall around us and we occasionally hear the laughter of kookaburras. Parrots pay the feeding trays a visit some with a twitter and others with a raucous squawk.
Rose blossom sprinkles confetti-like around us as we eat, chatter, laugh and discuss our day and its happenings. Masses of flowers, ivy geraniums, pink alpine phlox, alyssum, petunias and pansies stir in the slight breeze.
After dinner, we sit with coffee and port, listening to the cicadas chirping in the trees (summer’s orchestra). The damp air is still and busy with insects. The evening is cool and diffused with a new and vivid light, changing the sky as it fades to dusk, becoming a fiery red, before fading to pink and then gradually to ochre. The sky slowly darkens and the first star appears. We contemplate its beauty. All too often, we are too busy with our lives to notice the treasures that lay around us and I find myself more-and-more appreciating all that we have. Life can offer such promises and riches if only we take the time to look.
