All my creative pursuits.
A biweekly challenge for a total of 26 drawings this year.
It’s the busy season if you’re a farmer. The harvest is in full swing. Putting away the silage for winter, gathering in the crops to feed us all year round, putting up the fruits in canning jars, and drying, freezing or otherwise preserving all the fruits and vegetables grown this year. That’s why this time around, the theme for the challenge is:
Poem and artwork by Meg Sorick
The rains have come
And the birds have gone
Just the carrion crows
Cackling like crones
Gather in the bare branches
Watchful for a meager meal
Falling Hawthorne berries
And delicate dandelion clocks
Mark the passage of time
Golden gorse and crumbling
Stone walls
Creep the ages by
It is the season for reflection
When death is all around us
To close the doors and windows
On the cold and howling wind
When the brief and bitter daylight
Yields to darkness and decay
To wither or to weather?
Hidden and hermetic
Insulated, introverted
To waste these hours of isolation?
Or cling to life and dream of love
In a springtime so far away
It was a crisp, fall morning here in Bucks County. The fall foliage has passed it’s peak but the color is still hanging on. I leash up my running partner for a trek through the neighborhood. I start off walking to warm up, pick up the pace after a quarter mile and break into a run at the half mile mark.
This guy is the single reason I don’t run fast! There are too many things to stop and pee on, after all!
The first half mile is always the hardest. It takes time to steady my breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth, deep breaths, slow it down. My heart finally settles into a rhythm, my muscles relax, it starts to feel good. Then I reach the hill. At roughly one mile into my run, the road goes straight up to the ridge overlooking the valley I live in. Half a mile of steep incline to the top. I dig deep, take shorter steps, press on. Concentrate on keeping my shoulders down, lower my arms, imagine the soundtrack to Chariots of Fire playing in my head. And then… finally… it’s over. I’m at the top! I turn, cross the road to the other side, let Jaydog lift his leg on yet another tree and fly back down the hill.
Three miles round trip, I’ve just run a 5k. This week, other WordPressers are doing the same thing! Walking, jogging, cycling and swimming all count. Join us won’t you? Blog about your 5k and tag it wwwp5k.
Meg Sorick, Author/Artist 