War and peace ... peace and war

“The earth laughs in flowers.” - E.E. Cummings

Flowers are one of the things I look forward to most about summer. I don't have exquisite gardens, just a few little beds and some pots on my deck and patio. But flowers add so much with the bright colored blooms on long stems bending in the breeze off the lake sending soft gentle scents to linger in the air. It is as though the earth is if not laughing then at least smiling when the flowers are blooming.

The vibrant colors draw hummingbirds and butterflies nearer to see sometimes staying long enough for me to photograph them.

Apparently, the lovely flowers also draw other creatures.

I woke up yesterday and looked out my window at my flowerbed. I knew I would find the naked little marigolds resting peacefully on the edge of the flowerbed.

But to my extreme horror all of the bright red flowers were gone, too! Nibbled off leaving nothing but the tall stems.

I am telling you I just about cried.

I don't know the name of those flowers, but they were cool. Bright red blooms with big petals on tall stems and the broad big green leaves with rounded edges. They were just cool.

And now they are naked.

This is war.

The more I think about it the more I believe the culprits to be deer. Living by a lake surrounded by woods, this is not hard to believe. But I thought having three big dogs might discourage the wilder animals from coming into our yard at all. I guess that alone will not do it.

I enjoy living in the woods. There is so much to offer. And I don't want to fence off my yard or even the flowers. I just don't want the deer to eat them.

But then I was thinking, I had the opportunity to enjoy them for a few days. I looked at all the beauty they offered and a sense of peace they gave me. They made my home looked more alive.

I suppose I need to look at it through different eyes. If the deer needed the flowers for nourishment, then they needed them more than I did.

I don't really need the flowers to make my home more alive. There is almost always activity buzzing either in the yard or by the water. There are neighborhood kids running to and fro leaving behind a trail of bikes, hula-hoops, baseballs, basketballs, squirt guns and a slew of other toys. One look and it is easy to tell our home is alive.

Still, the flowers offer a sense of balance to the chaos that sometimes comes with so much activity. And they were beautiful to look at. At least for a little while.

Peace.


p.s. Just another way to look at it:

“I realized that Eastern thought had somewhat more compassion for all living things. Man was a form of life that in another reincarnation might possibly be a horsefly or a bird of paradise or a deer. So a man of such faith, looking at animals, might be looking at old friends or ancestors.”

William Orville Douglas