A Hundred Shades of Green

Beloved:

I’m sure creation’s first day was a morning in May.  Just going outside this month practically takes my breath away.  The sun is out for now and the radio says no more rain until tonight.  I don’t mind, but the rain has lost its charm for some.  A Southern Indiana Facebook friend now has a lake for a front yard, fully stocked with fish, frogs and turtles.  She’s definitely over it.  My house is way uphill from the creek, so only the most athletic frogs and snakes cross my porch.  Between the creek and me, everything’s turned a hundred different shades of green.  Even the hummingbirds are glinty emerald.  

Backyard comedy is provided by hens taking their dust baths.  Dust baths are how hens dry out the deep down damp where feathers and skin touch.  They scratch up the dirt and roll around in it, cooing with pleasure.  They flop over and stretch their wings out wide like belly-up airplanes.  They toss dirt up high and let it rain on their heads.  One will wander away to eat worms pushed to the surface of the garden, trading places with someone who is already full.  They fall asleep in a single snoring pile then wake up and start the bathing ritual all over again.  By day’s end their feathers will be clean and fluffy again.  Janet, the Polish Crested, will have regained the plumage for which she’s famous around the neighborhood.

I only think I love summer and fall until May comes around again ~ reminding me she’s my first and most true love of all.  Reminding me of resurrection in a hundred shades of green.

Click here to download a
video of Chickens in a Dust Bath