Before the Creeks Rise | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Please join me in welcoming Author Michele Rhem, who presents us with her poignant mémoires of the Rabbit Patch, where her diaries weave tales of a simpler, expressive life lost to many, but gathered together in her most familiar environs - the Rabbit Patch.

    Today was a nice day. Sunshine has been scarce for weeks, though Saturday was bright. I mowed that day. I noticed the french mulberry is hanging full of berries . They are bright fuscha colored berries and birds eat them like candy. The lone ginger lily is full of blooms and a new lantana is growing by the picket fence. Meanwhile, a hurricane is headed this way. It is just a few days before the creeks rise and the wind will be a force to be reckoned with.

    The rabbit patch is well inland. The creeks will rise and may flood the road on each side of the rabbit patch. Everything not nailed down must be stored away. We have started preparing in the way we know how. A storm will help you truly define necessities.

    A few years back, a hurricane came through this way. We lost several big trees around the edge of the woods, but the worst was going without power for over a week. I washed clothes the way folks did years ago and hung them on the line. It was a long process. We cooked on a grill and showered in the privacy of the "Quiet Garden" with a water hose. It was a hard row for a while, but we lived to tell about it.

    The stores are madhouses. I am about sure that I bought the last flashlight in the county today. I am in the habit of keeping the rabbit patch well stocked, just because I do not like shopping, except for Christmas presents - and I try to only buy when things are on sale, then I am known to buy heavily and put my freezer to good use. Having said that, I bought coffee today anyway.

    The drive home from work and shopping, was as peaceful as the stores were maddening. It was another silver day and a light mist seems to have made itself at home, for the last few weeks. The ditch banks are blanketed with autumn wild flowers. Bright yellows , blues and purples are blooming like the world depends on it. The fields lay bare in the absence of their crops and create a sense of rest, as you gaze upon them. I just can not worry when I look at a field.

    I am convinced that the world needs Octobers. October will paint the landscape as only it can. Harvesting anything is over at the rabbit patch. The joy that comes with the tending is now replaced with gratitude. In October, the lowly sweet gum gets to boast along with the maples-and holds its' own quite well. Nights fall early and stars show up earlier because of it. Christopher Robin may give up his notion of being a barn cat and not put up such a fuss when I call him in at night. When it's raining he is quite satisfied to assume the position of a well-mannered house cat. I expect cold weather will have the same effect.

    I am on a mission to find beauty in every day-October makes it easy. Any stones I may have gathered in my heart, will surely melt like butter, in the splendor of October. October is not a time to hold grudges or unkindness of any sort. The earth itself, is in a state of glory and the Hand that gives, is generous for all. None need fear a shortage of wonder-October is full of it.