Play Before Work

Saturday mornings before the day's heat has time to threaten my schedule, I hurry to the children's garden to harvest vegetables for the food pantry.  We are at the end of harvest with less and less to capture and I have a sweet 90-year-old woman who volunteers to harvest and water and weed with me these early mornings.  I rush to get there for a second reason, the heavy metal gate is too hard for her to push open and then she has to park her car on the road and walk around if I am late.  I get there just as the sun is up and the only sound is a solitary woodpecker up in the pine tree at the edge of the road and there is still dew on the grass.  The Canada geese are gleaning the last of the grass seeds or perhaps the cut grass from the previous day's mowing in the field that is at the side of the garden.  I always have my camera handy and spend time stalking them, before I start my garden work.

They are wary creatures and before I even have the garden gate open and the hose connected they are moving on and I must concentrate on chores.