Seasons
August
24, 1999
[RealAudio - streaming
or download]
There were some seven
readers during this service, but only some were able to contribute text.:
Elin-Marie Papantones
read this poem, which was written by Nancy
Wood from the book
Many
Winters
You shall ask
What good are dead leaves
And I will tell you
They nourish the sore earth.
You shall ask
What reason is there for winter
And I will tell you
To bring about new leaves.
You shall ask
Why are the leaves so green
And I will tell you
Because they are rich with life.
You shall ask
Why must summer end
And I will tell you
So that the leaves can die.
MY
FAVORITE SEASON
By Gloria Ericson
When I was asked
to participate in this program and speak about my favorite season of the
year I thought about it and realized that my favorite season is dependent
upon the geographic location in which I am living at any given time.
I lived for many years in upstate New York before migrating to Maryland
and thinking about those winters makes me realize that I love Maryland
winters - not so much for what they are, but for what they aren't.
I mean, it's wonderful
knowing that when I step out of the house in the morning it won't be to
temperatures of, say, 27 degrees below zero - temperatures at which the
very hairs in your nose instantly freeze into shards of ice. And
it's nice to know that if you start out the winter with a red car it will
remain that color all winter instead of metamorphosing into the same color
as every other car on the road: "slush gray." And as to the
shopping center parking lots: imagine having access to all parking
spaces all winter. In New York state after the first big snowfall
the plows would come in and push the snow into scattered mounds throughout
the lots. And after each snow the mounds would just become fatter
and taller until finally these miniature Mt. Everests took up more space
than the cars.
Coming from
this background you can see how amused I was when I first settled here
and I'd hear local TV announcers state breathlessly that snow was
coming, and then when the first few flakes drifted down I'd find the supermarkets
jammed with people panic-buying bread and milk - just in case they got
snowbound. The only time I've been snowbound in Maryland was in
1987 when an unusual storm hit the area.
I've been snowbound,
of course, in New York, but not nearly as often as you might think.
That's because there they "think snow" most of the year and are prepared
for it. Before dawn you can hear the giant plows prowling the roads
- all so that no New York child shall be denied his day in school.
At six in the morning those rural school buses must be able to roll -
and roll they do.
At six in the
morning it is still dark out, and I remember the trepidation with which
I would send my second-grader off to meet the school bus, lunch box in
one mittened hand, flashlight in the other.
I remember watching
from an upstairs window one particulary dark morning. Her flashlight
bobbed up and down as she made her way up and over the drifts along our
unplowed private road. Suddenly her light plunged downward.
She's fallen, I thought, and then was relieved to see a flashlight streak
out from our nearest neighbor's house. Probably 12-year-old Eddie,
run out to help her, I thought gratefully, and watched as the two flashlights
intermingled and bobbed crazily in the blackness. I realized he
was undoubtedly brushing her off and mopping her tears. I watched
with relief as both flashlights finally continued their journey out to
the bus stop on the main road. The flashlight pantomime was over
and I was reminded of how very grateful for and dependent upon your neighbors
you are when living in snow country. So reminiscing this way, what do
I conclude? I conclude that here in Maryland winter is my favorite
season - by default, as it were.
It's dull. It's
underwhelming. I love it!
Nola Davidson &
Rex Neihof also participated in the service and can be heard in the audio
version.
 
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