Things for which I give thanks this week…
1.- We have had some rain after days of strong sun or strong wind – which equally dry out the garden – even more critical when everything is in containers…
2.- The Stargazers are all open bar one and it is an annual marvel – especially for a flower that we more often see as a cut flower…
3.- I continue to be fascinated by this last Allium – by its slow development and by its morphology – it has now developed more pronounced florets on the underside whilst the to looks much the same as two weeks ago…
4.- I have, today, completed 32 out of 62 Poetry Postcards – the rest to be completed by the end of August…
5. I am in the middle of another Speculative Poetry Mini-book and it is taking some work for such a tiny thing – watch this space…
6.- I talked to my Writing Critique partner yesterday – he and his wife have arrived in Eureka California for a few months before moving to L.A. for a few years from their home in Minnesota. Their cabin in the woods, runs in the Redwoods, sound divine, with deer at the window and other wildlife. The other evening, whilst watching a police drama on TV, the characters were smoking marijuana and suddenly they could distinctly smell skunk. At first they thought someone was smoking whilst passing nearby, but on opening the front door, they found three skunks gambolling outside lol…
7.- Barbara is no better but no worse…
8.- When I speak to my sister in Nova Scotia, every other week, she likes to hear me read one of my poems, so I typed up this one, and since it won’t appear anywhere else on the blog in the foreseeable future, i thought you might enjoy it… It was written in my Writing Group (on holiday break at present) and the prompt was to include a line from a favourite song…
Cause the Trees Don’t Need To Know
Trees, it turns out
are no slouches
when it comes to communicating
co-opting networks of fungi
intertwined with their subterranean
roots to talk to their fellows
“Salmon season is nearly upon us
Gaia bless those little bears for
dragging their food deep into the woods.”
“Yes, bless them indeed
they don’t even know
what they do for us trees!”
“I’m being attacked by those damned
Leafcutter ants—anybody got
anything bitter to make my leaves
unpalatable to the little blighters –
most obliged, dear neighbours.”
“There’s a sapling here who’s struggling
– let’s feed him up a little so he can make it
till one of us old guys pegs it, and
he gets his shot at the light…”
Slow, thoughtful communications
as befits elder statesman
of the forest—unknowable, ineffable
but now the threats come too thick, too fast
drought, unseasonal snow,
floods and forest fires
there is little we can do now
too late to intervene so
let us whisper these perils quietly
when we walk in the woods
‘Cause the trees don’t need to know…
© Andrew Wilson, 2026
9.- The Inkspots…
10.- This supportive community…
Have a great week everybody and may you get whatever weather you need or desire…