JANUARY 26, 2009

Cat rubs whiskers
Against newly pruned
Potato vine branches.

We spent an hour or two yesterday afternoon pruning the two oleander plants against the back fence and Bev cut back the potato plant against the left side of the storage shed. The hope is that this will encourage the oleanders to fill out, but this morning they simply look spindly and bare. The potato plant always comes back like gangbusters and tries to seal us out of the storage shed. I am thinking of taking four or five pieces of the old rough redwood 2X12s and building a planter box for tomatoes. Hope to grow some cherry tomatoes this year. Will have to look up Seeds of Change or Google the Web to see if I can determine the ideal dimensions. Will see if I can get some heirloom cherry toms like the ones I grew one year here that were so profuse. We agreed to use only chicken manure to fertilize and feed them this year as Miracle Gro (or perhaps the failure to apply it regularly) always seems to result in that withering near the end of the growing cycle, just when the plants start to produce. Of course, a drought year is projected, so water will be scarce; they may wither anyway, but let’s hope not.

Frost on the roofs
But this sun brings to mind
Spring planting.

(c) Bob Loomis
01-26-2009, Concord

SEA RANCH HAIKU/HAIBUN

Beverly and I gave each other a three-night stay at Sea Ranch for Christmas. We've just returned, renewed and rested. Here are some poems from our trip:

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January morning

Warm as spring

But still no birds

Full moon past

Venus shines alone

In winter sky

All that glitters

Is not gold – in morning sun

A wet mound of poop

Eerie somehow to have 70-degree weather on the North Coast in mid-January. We’re accustomed to fog, cloudy gray days, rain and wind; instead we get day after day of warm sun, not a sign of rain as far as the eye or the forecasters can see. We enjoy the warmth but feel somehow uneasy.

One more winter day

Of endless blue sky:

Drought’s spring disguise

One drawback of aging and being a late bloomer musically is that many of the people you’d like to have know about it have already passed on.

Sending my music

To those who’ve gone on

Wherever they may be

Six deer grazing

On the hill – the 2 youngest

Stage mock battles

Last night’s great wine

Doesn’t seem so wonderful

The morning after

Along the horizon

At ocean’s edge a single line

Of sunset gold

Once in a while

Even at our age

Moans of ecstasy!

One tiny boat

Out on the deepest blue

Labors northward

Morning sun

Meadow grasses

Shining

Hearing footsteps

Six deer stare

Big ears up

A few seabirds

Bob among kelp heads

Browsing for breakfast

Now that the sun’s

On the deck

Too hot to sit there

Last night’s fog

Left damp footprints

On roof and deck

Today’s alarm clock:

Some bird perched

Pecking stovepipe cap

(c) 2009 Bob Loomis