“Nature’s first green is gold……

I have had a poem on my mind for days now. Despite the very, very wintry weather we have been experiencing here since last Sunday night, there are signs everywhere that spring is not far away.
I have noticed, in particular, that the willow tree branches are either turning golden or have a russet gold hue. My father quoted Robert Frost’s powerful poem on this phenomenon around this time of the year, just a few weeks before his death in September 1989.

“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day,
Nothing gold can stay.” Robert Frost.

We read this poem at his memorial service.

But this year it speaks to me doubly as we watch one of our cats require increased supportive care from the vet and under go more tests as we try to determine the cause of his lack of appetite, high inflammation levels and spells of general malaise, despite our love and best efforts at home.

Spring with its vitality and message of new life can be harsh when events in that season tell of the opposite.

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A bit distracted

I’ve been quiet on the blog for a few days now. The ordinary care of the two cats became rather more of a full time occupation for a week. One of our cats is on medication for an inflammatory condition and it seems that the medication levels were too high for him. He was very out of sorts and required almost daily visits to the vet for extra fluids and lots and lots of TLC plus encouragement to pick up his eating.

I’m very pleased to say that he has improved and is much more his old self again. I now have to monitor the new reduced dosage and see how he fares. Fingers crossed.

On a quite separate note it has been confirmed officially that May, in my neck of the woods, was the hottest on record. We continue to enjoy very mild conditions here and I cannot help but note how easy life is without high winds and cold temperatures. The same weather officials are saying that our Golden Weather is almost at an end with the La Nina pattern diminishing. But for today we will continue to relish it.