May Journal of Wonder

Peony - Lauritzen Gardens*

I missed posting about wonder in March and April. Sometimes I forget to nurture my sense of wonder. This cool damp May, I return to this journal of wonder with a little bit of wanderlust. More wonder occurs when I take time to wander.

This month:
I wonder why the robin chose a nesting place so high in the birch. Won't the wind knock down her nest?

I wonder how the hummingbird came to be feeding in the apple blossoms during a thunderstorm.

I wonder if wind makes the birds jittery.

I wonder if the common yellow warblers will make their mid-May appearance in the birch. They did not. They are becoming less common.

I wonder why the maples are loaded with seeds this year. Maybe the trees in our neighborhood have finally grown up or maybe (as the newspaper reported) the trees were dormant last year and so produced a bumper crop this Spring.

I wonder why this administration is promoting an open pit copper mine in a pristine area of the Arizona desert. The area is sacred to Native Americans.

This world is so beautiful. I wonder why we don't take better care of it.

I wonder why farm women planted peonies in rows in their yards.

I wonder why the sound of rain on the roof is so peaceful.

Why are scrappy projects so satisfying to me?

I wonder if Emily Dickinson would have written fewer poems if she had been trying to publish them in books.

I wonder which enterprising woman first added sugar to rhubarb.

I marvel at the few minutes needed for pale yellow iris to be outlined by the morning sun.

I wonder if this rainy spell will come to an end anytime soon.

*The Lauritzen Gardens is a Botanic Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Last week, my sister and I visited. The daffodils and tulips were finished blooming but the Peony and Rose Gardens were waking up.