Winter Begins

The last couple of mornings there has been frost on the fields, and driving out to get the newspapers from the mailbox, I am glad for the heated car seat I set on "high". The thermometer says "38" this morning. There are brilliant reds of the grape leaves on the vines, chickens in the road, cows coming out of the swamp and hawks hunting. With my early cup of coffee I stop the car and get out to see what tracks are on the sandy road today. And I think about what needs to be done this day.
This is my life, my beloved routine in winter. Andy will have picked the oranges and squeezed the juice for breakfast. Lola, our little dog, will be nagging me to fix her food, no waiting! I put on the oatmeal and dispense the kibbles, start the laundry. I look out at the vegetable garden and I know that more frost damage is inevitable.
Later, I discover that the tomatoes are gone, as are the beans and the zinnias. But most of this fall garden are hardy collards, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, rutabagas, kohlrabi and peas. The lettuce looks fine too. Peppers are mostly gone. Later, as I walk out on the property, I notice what shrubs and plants have been bitten by the frost of last night. I do not mourn them. I know they will be back in February. Around the house and in the vegetable garden I can place covers over my favorites, bring in the orchids and tender things, but more and more, and not out of laziness, I let nature take it's course.
Working in my studio, I listen to NPR (all the pundits). Hearing yet another dissection of the "don't ask, don't tell" issue, I can't help thinking of the civil rights agony our country went through. I hear John McCain (who, by the way, has a lesbian daughter..go figure) saying that we can't let gays be human beings yet. They have to keep on lying about their sexuality. This kind of raw prejudice is so sad. My young friends have no problem, apparently the major ranks of the military have no problem. McCain is an old guy with who knows what issues, and he is out of step with the times.