Backyard Memories

While walking on the farm, this weekend, I was reminded of my childhood twice. The first instance was the sighting of a beautiful orange Baltimore oriole. It had landed briefly in a tree outside our farmhouse. In the past five years it is only the second oriole we have seen...so you can imagine how excited we were! That sighting brought back the memory of a time when I was a very young girl. We had found a baby Baltimore oriole in our back yard. We spent days nursing it back to health, feeding it milk and bread by hand and then eventually feeding it lunchmeat. Amazingly, our little "Hungry", as we named him,lived. He spent the summer in our backyard and would land on our shoulder to take bits of lunchmeat out of our fingers. Hungry migrated in the winter and much to our amazement returned the next year with a mate!

The second memory that came to me this weekend was brought back by the sight of wild Violets blooming. One of my most pleasant childhood memories is that of my big backyard. I suppose it was because I was so little, but our backyard seemed immense. It always felt like an hour's hike just to get to the end of the yard. I would take off from the back door in the cool spring evenings after dinner was finished. I would hike beyond my sandbox, my swingset and our beautiful blossoming red-bud tree and set out for the outer reaches of the yard. There, I would be met by a lush carpet of wild Violets in many hues from almost white to the darkest of purples. With my chubby, sweaty little fingers I would pluck the most beautiful bouquet and hold them tightly as I ran back to my Mommy. She would greet me at the door and recieve my precious gift as if it were the most beautiful she had ever seen. She would place the blooms in a vase and set them on the windowsill...a gentle reminder of the innocence and wonder of childhood.

In those days my whole world was our backyard...I needed to go no further. That yard fueled my imagination and taught me an appreciation for nature that would stay with me throughout the rest of my life. I think back now to that simpler time and am filled with a rush of nostalgia....so many life lessons learned....in my backyard.