a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Category: Reflections

  • Things to Ponder While the Snow Melts


    So what do you do with a doll you have loved for years as a child and are now too old to play with it? If you’re in Japan, you can have a funeral for it. There are Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines throughout Japan which regularly conduct funerals for dolls.

    Things with eyes and mouths can not be thrown away, is a way of thinking in Japan. There is a view that since dolls are in such a close relation with people, that they share our memories and feelings, so throwing them away is not an option.




    At a doll funeral, priests conduct a memorial service for the dolls, thank them for their service, and send them on to the next life after the service. At the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, some 30,000 dolls a year are honored this way and during the funeral huge taiko drums are played, and shrine maidens perform special dances for the dolls.


    In a world awash in conflict, strife, and controversy, it’s calming to know that there are places where some feel so much for their dolls that they conduct elaborate funerals for them. It’s a pleasant thing to ponder as I watch the snow melt.

  • A Two Week Break


    The snowpack is finally melting away, one snowflake at a time. For two weeks the ground has been covered with snow. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a snowpack last this long. Usually, they are gone in a day or two. It’s been a two week break from any garden work.


    The snow has melted enough, the air warmed sufficiently, for the chickens to run free.



    In a few days the grass will be poking through the vanishing snow. The chickens will be back to scratching for bugs and worms.

  • Glaciers Recede, Duck Eggs Appear


    I gathered the first eggs of the year yesterday. Among them was one of Emma’s, the biggest duck egg of all. With duck eggs for breakfast, I can forget about the snow.


    It is above freezing, the sun is burning away the clouds, the glaciers around the house are receding, and I have finished shoveling the driveway so I can deliver eggs, bread, and tofu tomorrow.


    Not quite the twenty meter (sixty-five feet) high snow walls along the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route you can see from April into June in the Northern Alps of Japan, but it’s fun to pretend the snow here is that deep.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjmm9EOOe-4&w=700&h=394]

  • Snowed In


    This is a first. I had to shovel my way into the garden this morning.



    Shovel a path for the ducks to walk to their swimming hole.


    Shovel a path to the hoop house the ducks spend the night.


    The ducks don’t care how much it snows as long as they can swim. Can you really call what ducks do on water as swimming? They float and paddle, they dive and splash, but swimming implies some effort, and as buoyant as ducks are, floating is effortless for them. They often go to sleep floating on the pond. Which makes me wonder if wild ducks ever fall asleep on a lake, go sleep paddling, and wake up wondering how they got to where they are when they open their eyes.




    It has been many years since we’ve seen this much snow. The forecast is for steadily warming temperatures with snow melting warmth knocking on our door. With this much snow it’s easy to imagine this as the start of an ice age, forcing us to flee on foot out of here, sojourning across vast snowfields in search of snow free lands far to the south, thousands and thousands of snow refugees fleeing advancing glaciers nipping at our heels.

    In a few days the snow will most likely be gone and my mind can wander through other calamities. Today it is all about the snow.



  • No Sneaking About in the Snow


    The snow sparkles this morning under a blue, cloudless sky. You don’t need to ask, “Who goes there?” when powder-puff snow blankets the ground. Every last footstep of every last creature leaves an imprint in the snow. There is no sneaking about in the snow.




    Down the lane I stumble on the sad, feathery grave of a flicker. One of the many flickers which grace our woods has met its demise. With no tracks of a fox, bob cat, coyote, or cougar in sight, a goshawk, or merlin, or such forest bird of prey must have snagged the poor flicker. To sneak about on a snowy day you must fly.