I don’t always like the quiet. We now know What freedom is, because It has been stolen from us. Covid-19, a silent warrior came in Attacking us invisibly Through hugs and Intimacy Our most humane instincts. It reminds me that I’m alone With my cats and a storm coming Compounding the silence Broken by the occasional whirring A passing car or truck. TV not working – again More silence, just marathons Of movies dusted off from storage Seen many times before To mitigate the silence. I like living alone - with options To leave. To visit. To have Friends and family over For shared meals and catch-up. Options have disappeared. Masked people are everywhere Another intrusion to human Contact – the world as we know it Today. Negating the peace I found Previously in quiet seclusion –  The emptiness of streets Stressing the enforced solitude. The aura of estrangement. I don’t always like the quiet, But when birdsong intrudes In early mornings  And late afternoons Rippling the silent isolation It reminds me we are not truly Alone. Only our minds feel lonely, Maybe the heart. Somehow, Freedom returns with the songs.

Leaves

My love/hate relationship with leaves was in full mode today as I walked Lucy. That scratchy brittle sound so synonymous with the crispness of autumn so different from the silent falling of them that sometimes catches you unaware as you suddenly realize – the leaves have fallen! Crunching through masses of them still retaining their brilliant colors mingling with some that have dried to brown; the trees themselves still hold enough to cause you to stop in awe at the brilliant contrast to the October/November cerulean blue skies!

I love to keep the leaves through October for the sounds of them giving All Hallows Eve that eerie quality trick-or-treaters love as they slush through them going from door to door. And I love them at Thanksgiving – their sound like the song Over the River and Through the Woods to Grandmothers House we go as my Thanksgiving guests arrive and I watch my grandson shuffling through them to get his hugs!

As I walk down Old Kings Highway South toward Town I heard the church bells ringing – what a unique sound – giving me a sense of peace as I soughed along through the leaves, my dog wagging her tail and sniffing at something my nose misses. Past the now not so secret "secret garden" where Eric and Mar were busy harvesting the last of the Swiss chard – perfect to add some to the soup simmering on my stove – thank you!

By December the opposite end of the relationship kicks in and I want them gone – a crisp serene emptiness that will be beautiful when covered by the first snowfall. But for now – the sun is brightly shining and the leaves are glowing, the silence is so full of peace that I feel patient as I await the time of frost, freeze and snow!

Nanci Natale
White Pumpkins

Sound Harbor Cruise

Roton Point

First Prize in the Norwalk Tree Alliance Flowering Tree Contest - May 2016

Black Heron in Milford

Parenting vs Grandparenting

Parenting is probably the hardest job anyone will ever enter into. It is undeniably one of the most joyful jobs as well. Who will ever forget the first words, first steps, first day of kindergarten, soccer practice, graduation, prom, college, wedding and all the myriad routine days between?

And suddenly the house is empty – the silence louder than any noise children make – slamming doors, screeching, sibling rivalry, unbridled joy over an accomplishment? Treasured moments that come tumbling back from inside our memories, resurrected when we first encounter our grandchildren and see our children in their new and wondrous faces!

My grandson spent his first overnight with me and though I was grateful to have Monday as a “recovery day,” I would not have missed it! The playground at Weed Beach delighted him as he climbed, jumped, slid and explored, and dipping his feet, hot from the sand, into the cool salt water.

Later, picking fresh beans from the garden to have with our dinner, I watched his little hands lifting the leaves to look for the beans, finding them and proudly holding them out to me. On the other side he picked fresh raspberries for breakfast eating several as he picked. I remembered my sons doing this and questioning dinner “what is this leaf Mom” as I snuck in kale, herbs and other healthy greenery into whatever happened to be on that night’s menu. They were hungry and ate despite my freaking out – why aren’t you eating? Now, I’m easier, eat or don’t eat, whatever your tummy tells you! Usually they eat.

And later the little things they say at bedtime “my Dad and Mom are really going to miss me…” the only sign he gave of homesickness. I took it as a sign that he trusted me and was happy to be here and I look forward to so many memories with my grandson, the special relationship that I remembered my three sons had with their grandmother, sometimes making me jealous and feeling left out. Of course I told him “yes they are going to miss you and will be excited to come over tomorrow and get you!”

And I watched him sleeping as I had watched my own sons sleeping and you think – how much love can one heart have? The answer is enough, and more. This little being that came from my creation of his father amazes and awes me. The heart never stops growing, never stops loving, never runs out of room. So I hope parents and grandparents throughout town enjoy the adventure and remember “this too shall pass” when ice cream covers the face and hands!