Drummming Up Springtime

By the calendar, March 1st wasn't the first day of spring. But I've never watched the calendar too closely, no more than I watch watches. The weather, the way the season feels, what the plants are doing, those are the things I listen to. Nature was there long before the first ticking clock was imagined, and before the turning pages of a calender measured imagined realities.

There's a special satisfaction in being inside a greenhouse in cold weather. It's the next best thing to a walk through a tropical jungle. The humid warmth, the fertility of the flats of plants sprouting to life, feels rich and exuberant and full of life.

John, who I used to watch on the local t.v. show, Stone Soup, is a Native drummer. He'd brought his drum and he sat outside the greenhouse, drumming. Inside, Eric was working on his own drum, under John's occasional watchful eyes and suggestions. John was passing along the methods and secrets of drum making, a tradition that has passed down through the ages.

Eric is a bird man, an ornithologist, and works at the St.Louis Zoo. He'd brought along his wife, Cathy, and son, Aiden, and some feathers to share. (He also brought me some excellent homemade hot sauce-  think onion, garlic, CARROTS!!, lime and habanero peppers). Outstanding! Two of the feathers caught my eye; I've never seen feathers that have stripes on one side and dots on the other. I hope you will click on the photo to enlarge it. They're from an African variety of guinea.

Spring Fever Greenhouses are owned by long time friends, Olee & Sharon Jobe and Olee spent part of his time giving the 2 granddaughters and Aiden, rides on his little blue tractor. For the kids, tractor rides were the big hit of the day.

It's the greenhouse that was like a magnet to us all. Sharon watered and checked on the new seedlings and blooming plants; Eric worked on stretching the cowhide over his newly emerging drum, John drummed and told stories, Olee gave tractor rides, and I enjoyed watching spring, drummed in again.