We arrived home somewhere around May 1 in the late afternoon or early evening. All that seemed to matter was that we got home.
On our way home from Fredericksburg, we stopped at the Winstar Casino just into Oklahoma, then another Casino at Tonkawa, and a third casino at Osceola, IA. Nothing terribly exciting, but spaced out conveniently. From there we pushed home from Albert Lea, MN where we filled up with diesel fuel and arrived home shortly before dark.
When we left last November, Maggie was just 11 weeks old. Now she was almost 9 months old. Quite a difference for all of us. She had gone from a little puppy to a young lady. Still a puppy but a bit more grown up.
We went into the house, turned up the thermostats from 50 to 65, and turned on the water heater and the water pump.
We left the house to warm up overnight, opened the barn, pulled out a big cable, and plugged in the coach. We raised the satellite dish, made some supper, walked the dog, watched something on TV, went to bed, and slept soundly after a long day’s drive.
The next day was the start of several days of moving from the coach back into the house. It doesn’t happen quickly. Like loading in the Fall when we depart, it is a slow process. It happens every year, there is a lot of shared clothes and equipment. And food to move as well. As we empty the coach we try to clean it as we go so it is ready to go next time.
Second Spring
When we left Fredericksburg it was spring. The grass was green, the trees had leaves, and the spring wildflowers were everywhere. The days were warm, the evenings just a bit on the cool side. Perfect enough that it was hard to leave. We said goodbye to our many friends in Fredericksburg and headed North.
Each day turned back the seasonal clock by at least a week. Our second day saw fewer leaves on the trees, and not quite as much green in the fields. On the third day there were only the very early tree buds and now green on the fields was much less than the brown. On our last day heading home, the trees were bare, the fields brown and it looked just like it did in November when we left Minnesota.
It would have been nearly the same if we had returned home at the beginning of April or the end of April. The big difference is suffering through an extra month of the end-of-winter brown. When we get home in early May the grass is waiting for that first warmish day to almost overnight turn green. The trees have been sucking up the juice that makes them do what trees do for some time. The buds are stuffed with it and some plant trigger makes them explode, unfurling themselves to grab as much sunlight as possible.
All of this happens in what seems an impossibly short time, it is a couple of weeks of course, but the time-lapse in our attention span speeds it up.
And those new leaves, just opening to the sun, are an impossibly pale shade of green. This shade of green in the morning sun which is at lower angles than later in the summer, is soft and delicate. And it only lasts for a few days.
And once, maybe twice a year, sometimes never, an overnight or early morning rain wets down the tree trunks, not yet quite sheltered by the tree canopy umbrella. They turn a dark chocolate color to contrast with the soft green of the damp and glistening new leaves. At least in our backyard, if we are looking.
It is a beautiful thing to see when it happens.
More Later, Much Love
Roger, Susan, and Maggie
Home2 with Roger and Susan 