Stasia's Place Of Grace

Thursday, August 29, 2002

 

A Different View

What do you think this is?

Looks like a little bit of knitted lace perhaps, or a leaded glass window maybe? It's pretty, isn't it? I'll come back to it later.

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Here is a photo of the "miracle oak" I told you about in our little meadow. Can you imagine how the acorn came to land where it did, much less how the oak survived being lawn-mowed for so many years before being allowed to grow?

Behind the oak and to the right is where we've planted native prairie seeds. We hope to restore this entire area to native Wisconsin prairie someday. It is a slow process, but worth the effort as there is very little natural prairie left in the United States. Every little patch helps! Some people might think our yard is weedy, but we look at it with a different view, and see the beauty in the plants that Nature intended to be here. (We do weed out foreign and invasive species. Rather, Jeff does!)

Here is a photo of one of only three kinds of dye plants that survived my black thumb this year. I think I planted about fifteen!

The brilliant colors of this coreopsis (I think!) make up for nothing else sprouting. Some people might think that this one plant in my garden is rather useless, but I take a different view. I don't care if it doesn't send up new plants next year. I don't even care that I can't harvest it this year to use for dye, just in case it wants to send up new plants next year. I only care that it exists and I get to see it each time I look out my back window. Isn't that color magnificent?

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I had to brave attacking cicadas to go out and get those photos for you today. They must be angry about yesterday... that cicada that fell on my head was not actually dead when it did so, as it made a LOUD noise right next to my ear, but as I flung my hair around and screamed, it landed on the hood of my car with a giant "THUNK" and I think that may have killed it.

Later on, Jeff found it in the driveway. "What did you do to this poor cicada?" he asked.

"Poor CICADA? What about poor ME?!"

Jeff obviously takes a different view of cicadas than normal people.

The cicada was reverently picked up and brought in to be laid on our mantelpiece, along with our usual assortement of butterfly wings, acorns, stones, and shed bird feathers. (I got up in the middle of the night and put a cup over it, in case it came back to life to attack me while I slept!)

Well, news travels fast in the cicada world, because today when I tried to get out and enjoy the beautiful, sunny, breezy weather, I was litterally attacked and chased by them! I made my way towards the house, arms windmilling about my head, and collapsed on the couch with a cold washcloth pressed to my forehead.

"But my friends need to see some photos, after that loooooong text entry yesterday!" I thought. I donned my trusty Klaudette cap, grabbed my camera, and snuck back out to get these shots, avoiding passing under any trees. I made it back in without incident, thank goodness!

And I'm so thankful I went out, because as I came back over the deck, the following view presented itself.

Val holds bone against window.

It is a different view than I would have seen had I not made the effort to get pictures for you. I haven't been able to stop smiling since.

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Well, here is a different view of that first photo I showed you today:

Yup, it is that evil, now dead, cicada. It is a really ugly thing on the whole, but if I take a different view and look at one part of it (the wing) it is something of infinite beauty.

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I am hopeful that I can learn to take a different view of people I'm having difficulty with. I think that if I look at little bits of them, maybe I will be able to find and appreciate their special beauty, too.

I know I have done many things in my life that I wouldn't want people to see as "me". I would want them to look hard and see the "me" on the inside, not the me seen when I reacted out of fear or anger or jealousy or suspicion or just nastiness.

I think maybe I only consider cicadas ugly because I am so fearful of them. And after all, they're only little bugs; I could do them much more harm than they could do to me (and apparently, I did!) Maybe I only consider some other people's behavior ugly because I am afraid of it. But their negative behavior is so small compared to my keeping peace in my heart, that it doesn't stand a chance. I can accomplish more with my love than they can with their hate (or fear of me, perhaps...)

So I will take a different view, and be brave, and keep my eyes open to see others' inner beauty... or at least I won't let others make me squint so that I miss my view of the rest of the world.

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