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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

On the Harvest and Winter and the Future


Jean Sexton writes:

Today is Halloween. It is a day of trick-or-treating for many people who have children or work with them. For some, it is an evening of watching horror movies. For some, it marks a time to celebrate the harvest. I have no children and the "children" are in college where I work. Horror movies are not my forte although I've been cataloging them all this month so the students will have plenty to watch. This time of year I tend to notice the land.

Where I live, the corn has already been cut and the soybeans are just about ready for picking. Cotton fields look like snow-dotted expanses. It is probably the last harvest that I'll watch in North Carolina. As such, it is bittersweet. I am realizing just how bountiful the land is where I live. Farmer's markets and road stands filled with "extra" vegetables and fruits are all around. All around me though, the lush green is shifting to shades of brown. The toads that greeted me in my carport are already burrowing in and the tree frogs have found their homes for the cold times. The anoles are seen only during the day when they can sun and warm themselves. My daylilies are still blooming, but not opening fully because of the "cold." My tomatoes are giving up the very last of their fruits.

In some ways I already did my "trick-or-treating." I looked at what I had growing and decided that I would never be able to support all the plants that I have in North Carolina when I move to Texas. I also decided that garden gnomes that had belonged to my grandmother who gave them to my mother and who then gave them to me needed to stay in North Carolina. The gnomes and plants were given away at a garden club meeting and will brighten other families' lives. I have selected the pots that will go with me to Texas and brighten my new home and my future office.

Soon it will be winter. The days are already shortening and I had to turn on the heat last night. The trees will lose their leaves and the pines will finish dropping their needles. The young birds that visit my bird feeders are losing the last vestiges of their baby fluff and short feathers. For some of our customers, winter has arrived with a vengeance and there is snow in West Virginia and the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. A friend of mine reminded me that his parents had already had snow in Minnesota. It is also the time that I start preparing for my annual trip to Amarillo. This time I have squeezed out two weeks of time to be spent there. I should be able to finish PD Traveller and get a good start on proofreading the next Captain's Log which should come out in January. Leanna has planned for me to do some preliminary shopping for an apartment. I'll also ship some things there that won't come home this time.

What does the future hold? None of us know for sure, but I believe that mine should include all the practical details of retiring from my job as a librarian. I have to start shifting financial things to travel from the state credit union to a national bank. It holds packing (lots of packing!) the art that my grandparents and parents found or created for me. (My grandfather was talented in working in wood; my grandmother, in painting; my mother does textile arts and photography.) It holds moving over 1000 miles. And then it holds unpacking all that stuff into an apartment and my office. (Why should ADB have to buy me office furniture when I have my whole home office to move there?) Finally it holds the new job where I finally take hold of all the jobs I've been dabbling in for five years. My hope is that you will benefit from the change. I have all faith that I will have fun and challenges in the new environment.

Finally all of us at ADB, Inc. extend our thoughts and prayers to those who have been affected by the recent storm. May all return to "normal" in your future.