The Silver Lining

is Colored Green

This is a follow-up to an essay that was originally written and published in this newspaper in June of 2015.

The Corona Virus Pandemic has altered everything about this valley in summer 2020. The train is on indefinite hiatus, so many businesses are completely shut down for the better part of the season, restaurants that are open have had to put picnic tables outside their establishment in an effort to impose social distancing, and every business that is open happens to be struggling right now just to make it financially. It almost feels like we’re living inside of a bizarre nightmare that just seems to be getting weirder and weirder with each passing day. Luckily (or unluckily as the case may be…), I’m often accused of living in my own little world. Complete with a somewhat delusional, totally oblivious, but always positive outlook on life. Basically, that’s par for the course (as they say in the world of golf), but standard behavior for writer types like myself.

So, what minor measures have I been concentrating my energies on an effort to get through this? I’ll tell you whether most folks out there could care less if I do or don’t. Stop reading at this point if you don’t want to hear any more of my rants. You’ve been warned.

Other than the usual stuff (wearing a mask, being 6’ apart from others whenever possible, etc., etc.…) what I’ve done, and become semi-successful at, is finally starting to bear fruit after working at it off and on for the past nine years. For me, one of the small silver linings to this CoVid 19 pandemic also happens to be colored green.

In spring of 2011, I started planting conifer trees and lilac bushes down at the south end of town. Most folks didn’t take much notice of it. Particularly since the trees and bushes I planted happened to be fairly small and insignificant. Whenever people saw me packing milk jugs full of water most of them probably figured it was just me being my usual odd-ball self.

Now after all this time, things are becoming more noticeable. Conifer trees are beginning to get big, lilac bushes more and more noticeable, and best of all, the south end of town down around the ball field, track, and visitor center is really beginning to show up. When an old-timer asked me why I chose to do all this planting stuff down at the south end of town, my reply was fairly obvious. Someday when they get big, don’t you agree with me when I say the entrance to town will really look cool? The town already looks pretty neat because of the stunning beauty of our mountains. Let’s make it look even more fantastic.

Now some folks don’t really want this to happen. Most of them happen to be types who enjoy living next to a portal from Hell. In which case, they may still want the portal to look good by adding some accents to it.

Currently there happens to be 38 lilac bushes of various sizes and shapes growing next to the track on its straightaways, and 28 conifer trees in and around the ballfield and track. Plans for 10 more lilac bushes are in the works, 4 more trees will get planted, and because our Siberian style winters give new meaning to the term, “challenging”, everything that doesn’t survive from one season to the next eventually gets replaced.

Just as an aside, lilac bushes happen to be tough-ass plants. Two of them got inadvertently plowed over this past spring when the track was being cleared, and even though a large percentage of their branches broke off, the plants still survived. When they budded out in May, I was very excited. As an old girl-friend once said, “You’re easily satisfied, aren’t you?”

To me these lilac bushes surviving is a strange metaphor for this entire CoVid 19 pandemic we’re currently living through. We’ll make it through this, coincidentally and ironically just like those plants. Does that happen to be strange, or what?