Beautiful, Ordinary Things | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Please join me in welcoming Author Michele Rhem, who presents us with her poignant memoirs 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.

    Children are out of school and farmers are harvesting winter wheat. "Queen Annes' Lace" and the Day Lilies bloom and mark the time better than any calendar. This is the prelude to summer at the rabbit patch.

    School released at noon on Friday, liberating children and teachers, to spend their time as they please. Many folks have lofty plans for the summer-trips out west, cruises -and everyone is going to the beach, at some point. I came home and finally finished painting that very high ceiling in the den. The rabbit patch does not close down for summer, but instead requires a fair share of attention. Many years , I declared, that I could not possibly live here without summers off. I was in the yard as soon as it was light and called it a day at sunset. A few years ago, I was stung by ground bees and stayed in a few days. Concerned neighbors stopped by as I was not seen working when they drove by. I always went back to school with scratches and bites, and tanned. People would ask where I had been, an island maybe? I told them, no- I had a garden and a big yard.

    Of course, I have my own agenda for the summer. We are in full swing sprucing up the old house. There are repairs needed to some of the barns. There is always a day of mowing, each week. I will weed flower beds and cut those hateful thorned vines on a regular basis. For the first time in a decade, I will not tend a garden, this year. It was a hard decision to come by, as I love my garden . . but a garden just does not allow "a vacation". This summer, I plan to stroll by that laughing river with Lyla, every chance I get. I want to go to Wilmington, to spend time with my oldest sons, Brant and Tres. I do not want to worry about tomatoes and squash, while I am there. I do not want to come home to a garden needing three days of weeding, either. Thank goodness for farmer markets and kind neighbors, who are apt to share their bounty. One year, my garden drowned, early on. The Farm Life community brought me more tomatoes, than I ever have grown. It was not unusual to find a bushel of something on the back doorstep, upon waking or have a small truck drive up filled with sweet corn in mid morning. Many gardeners grow with the intention of sharing, I realise-and the Farm Life community is as generous as any people, I have ever known.

    The last moon of spring is a lovely grand finale to the season. It is as orange as a tangerine and astrologers claim there is a certain degree of good luck abounding, because of it. I do hope they are right. I am certain it is a lovely to behold and well worth spending some time with.

    I can not speak for all parts of the world, but I can say that the spring has been a lovely season at the rabbit patch. The world is fairer when magnolias bloom. The common daylilies and Queen Annes' Lace adorn the roadsides and do not seem so common when they abide together. Mimosa trees, may be " a dime a dozen' but they are no less beautiful, because of it. If you smell their feathery blossoms in the breeze, you will agree. Fireflies, known as "lightening bugs" here, come out in great numbers, now. It looks like Christmas in the young woods, when they do. Just now, the wild honeysuckle is starting to bloom and I think often, how beautiful the world is because of such ordinary things as wild flowers and full moons.

    Today, Kyle and I have big plans. There is mowing and hopfully, we will finish that dreadful barn floor. I have but a few days left of work days, and then I plan to take full advantage of "spending my time, as I please". There are shade trees to sit under, when the work is finished. I will gather roses and hydrangeas for vases and of course . . . .thee is always the laughing river.