Maple Appreciation Day

I often work straight through Memorial Day, Labor Day and the Fourth of July. There is always so much to be done.

I prefer my holidays to mark stellar moments of weather and circumstance rather than the sacrifice of veterans or the birth of our nation, both of which have my gratitude all year round.

There are a few annual holidays that can not be marked in advance on the calendar. You have to be ready to act when they show up. Maple Appreciation Day is my favorite.

One Day in late May or early June I will wake up to air of such transparency that the sun illuminates every leaf, every curl of bark. Dark shadows are thrown by the trees. Breezes are light, just tickling the hairs on your arm. The maple tree which shelters my hammock is in full leaf and all prior plans must be layed aside.

Maple Appreciation Day is celebrated with all your senses and all your need to re-create. The accoutrement of the day are blankets, good novel, reading glasses, beverage of choice, snacks, binoculars, bird identification book, pillows and, of course, a double wide well placed hammock. The attitude is one of receptivity and gratitude. I do no work on this day, though sometimes I am inspired to by what I see or think about.

Animals do not register the occupant of a hammock as human and will often come quite close. You might be thumped from a nap, and look up to see that a cat-bird has landed on the suspension chain and he's drawn a bead on you with his curious eye. You are close enough to see without optical aids and admire the rusty patch of feathers under his tail when he flies . He or she, they look alike.

Mostly there is the liquid light of the day illuminating layer upon layer of the green leaves alive and overarching you.

I swing like a baby in a cradle. I dream and think about my dreams. The garden, the fields, the clouds soak into me and I let them live behind my eyes. Sun sparks through gaps between leaves and bless me in my vulnerability.

This is the holiday that fills me up to the brim and makes sense of all the mowing, pruning, mulching I will do over the summer. This is the day where I can watch blue birds swoop down for food and back to feed their babies in a rhythm that will remind me to be gentle when I mow around their home. Today I might see the fox with her twins.