Memorial Day

To honor Memorial Day, Bob and I chose to explore one of our local parks, Naga-Waukee County Park in Delafield. It’s just a little piece of heaven. I’m so glad we went there. We both have a number of men and woman that served in the armed forces; Air Force, Navy, Army and Special Forces. To honor them, it’s time to think about what they fought for. This hike helped to highlight a small piece of that for me.

When I was a little girl, I remember laying on the grass chewing on clover flowers and finding shapes in the clouds. My brothers and I would make up stories to tell each other based on the shapes of those clouds. If we got thirsty, we would find red clover in the lawn and chew on the clover heads to release their nectar. We would change our positions based on the shadows from the overhanging tree branches. If we would see a flock of birds, we might pull a large grass blade and imitate the whistles of the bird calls.

These memories are bittersweet. Two of my brothers are gone, the large flocks of birds are gone, and most of the bees are gone. Much of the environmental changes have been impacted by the modern 20th century lawn. Lawns have changed from a mix of grasses and clovers to Kentucky blue grass, requiring the use of pesticides and herbicides to keep them looking good according to 20th century standards. I’m happy to see that the 21st century is bringing back the home garden, and natural pesticides like bird houses and bat houses that don’t contaminate the groundwater, injure your pets or cause cancer.

My neighbor used a lawn service last year only to discover that this year he has no lightening bugs for his daughters to catch. Did you know that the lightening bug lives for three years as a larvae in the ground and emerge as an adult in the fourth year to brighten our nights? I didn’t either until I started reading about it. I think that the more you investigate, the more you will appreciate our natural environment and the natural ways that you can use to control your back yard. I recommend reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (Houghton Mifflin, 1962).

In the meantime, thank you family and friends, for all the memories and your service to this country. Enjoy my pictures.