the weatherman said it would snow and hurricanes and floods would come in spring and summer, upon the arrival of the sunnier months all hell will break loose our crops we will lose and when he is done proclaiming our future he steps off the stage leaving the people jittering in fear in their homes well, he is right about some things other things he announced didn't, and won't ever happen, but a few anomalies which he predicted (or maybe manifested) came true like the snow on an april day some parts of the country covered in a deep white blanket others getting merely a freezing dust of fluffiness it snowed from dawn to midnight the next day falling, falling while melting away but quite a nice coat was still procured you could hardly believe it was the arrival of spring finally, at some point the sun came out from behind the clouds and mollified the cold now, looking out at the green grass and the trees almost ready to bloom it's like a distant memory thinking only of yesterday - Csermely
Not long ago I wrote an ode to spring in the city, though I still relish spring in the village more. It was such a huge difference from the weather we had this week…
An early morning hour brought the first wafts of snow. And then the snow kept falling and falling, and by midday, the ground was completely covered. April is known to have very different kinds of weather, however this lengthy cold spell with snow is quite strange - because it wasn’t only our county that got hit, but the whole country. And the neighboring countries as well.
Our resident photographer and village poet took a video yesterday of the snow, saying that there are good times and hard times in life, and that this snowy weather is the latter. However, I wouldn’t say that this cold was horrific or life changing, even though it was strange and incredibly windy with bouts of snow for 6 days straight. But beauty can be found even in an April snowfall.
When we used to live in Hungary, many years ago, by this time many crops where already planted and nearly everyone was wearing shorts - or at least thinking about it. That hot(ter) place was the scene of our first step as a family living a simple, homestead life.
Now we live in Romania, as you well know. And though spring arrives slower here than anywhere else we have lived, it is (in my humble opinion) entirely worth waiting for.
When the snow melted yesterday, it left behind mud. Obviously. Eventually, that mud will also dry up, leaving nothing but the memory of snow somewhere up high in the mountains, and in the photos above. As the snow silently disappeared and the sun emerged from hiding, spring came to life in an instant.
A few green strawberry leaves & some yellow flowers to begin with. Said strawberry plants will soon produce delectable little wild berries, always enjoyed by the guests who come to our workshops.
The lesson to be learned from this whole snowy episode is that some things take time to occur. Others take no time at all. Sometimes it is only our beliefs that make things take awhile, and yet other times, you must just let things take as long as they have to. And sometimes, you need a little outside help for something to happen.
To find out more about our story, and what ultimately led us here so that I could write this post, read this.
A thought for the week…
While the world outside seems, and usually is, quite idyllic and perfect, things in the human world don’t always appear to be idyllic or wondrous at all. A few of my acquaintances use AI, and I also see people online using it for everything. Their business. Their private lives. To learn languages. To prompt them affirmations, journal prompts, art, and anything else you can imagine. Gregg Braden, a scientist and over all very smart human, made this video about AI that I know will open your eyes to what AI really is, if you aren’t yet aware of it. If we stop thinking and creating, prompting AI to do all the thinking for us, soon we will find it quite hard to think and create at all.
This is the concept of use it or lose it, for the brain is also like a muscle, if under-used, it will deteriorate, as will our hearts, if we forget to feel. The more we allow AI into our lives, the more it will take over our lives.
This is partly why we are in such dire need of nature right now, to go back to our roots, and, in extension, to ourselves. Someone recently told me he wasn’t worried about AI because people will always have the choice to choose between something human and something created by this technology. But maybe one day, if we allow it to happen, we won’t have a choice. As Gregg Braden put it, “AI will slowly take away our humanness.”
That’s why we solemnly swear to never use AI to generate any of our poems, writings, ideas, drawings, prompts or images, because we believe in the power of the human mind and soul, and trust in its capability to create something truly beautiful. Watch the video and think about how AI might come to impact your life - as a writer, as an artist, as a human.
For example, here’s a drawing from my sketchbook I made on one of these snowy days while I was listening to an audiobook read by a human, but first, written long ago by a human.
Do human things. It will make you feel good about yourself.
As for the journal prompt of the day:
What do I feel when I experience unseasonable weather, whether it be colder or hotter, snowier or windier than in the past? Does it bother or excite me? And how does it affect my relationship with the Earth?
This cold and snow wasn’t seasonable. The wind last week, smoking us out of our home a few times, was seasonable, however quite unpleasant. But whatever happens to the earth, whatever type of weather we experience, let us not forget to love our Mother Earth, and be accepting and patient with her. For, like us, she is also going through a tough time. How are you experiencing the season so far?
With gratitude for all kinds of weather,
