When I was a child I remember being told the fable of The Grasshopper and the Ants. Later, I read the fable in a collection of Aesop’s Fables I have on my bookshelf. You probably know it. A grasshopper (in Aesop’s original fable, it is actually a cicada) spends the summer singing, dancing, and enjoying himself while the industrious ants work hard and gather food in preparation for winter. Then when winter comes, the improvident grasshopper perishes and the ants survive. The moral attached to the fable varies depending on the translation or the agenda of the teller. Some have it as “Prepare in your youth for when you are old,.” others, “It is best to prepare for days of necessity.” Some soften it to “There is a time for work and time for play,” although in the original telling the grasshopper (cicada) was all play and the ants were all work. I remember a Silly Symphony cartoon version of it with a happy ending where the ants are compassionate and invite the perishing grasshopper into their nest where they share their bounty with him in exchange for the entertainment he provides. Of course fables are not very accurate when it comes to the reality of nature and animal behavior is far more brutal. Grasshoppers thrive while summer’s food is plentiful and die when the cold days come. Ants do prepare for winter. They stockpile food in their nests. They know nothing of compassion. It’s all about survival. They will attack, dismember, and eat any grasshoppers they encounter (I’ve watched them do it).They gorge themselves in autumn to get fat (I take comfort in how the fat things of the earth survive longer in winter. If you’ve ever watched the TV show Alone, you know this is true). Ants are cold blooded and become sluggish when it gets cold, so they retreat deeper underground where the temperature is more stable, or they come indoors to live in our houses and make pests of themselves. Hmm – build fat, get sluggish in the cold – I might be an ant.
Anyway, I bring this up because last week we finished our ant-like preparations for winter. We’re done processing pumpkins and apples. We have summer’s bounty – canned, pickled, dried, or frozen – set aside for the long cold months ahead. We’ve stockpiled some wood. We have warm clothes. And we managed to have a fair amount of grasshopper-ish fun and frolicking along the way too. I know that Aesop meant well in telling his fable, but a balanced combination of work and play seems better to me. After all the proverb says “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” (which saying first appeared in James Howell's Proverbs published in 1659) and no one wants to be a dull boy.
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| The last of the apples - apple butter, applesauce, and pie filling - headed for the cellar. |
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| Monday morning, front yard. |
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| Monday morning, back yard. |
It began to snow last Sunday night and when I got up on Monday morning the world was white. There was about two inches of wet snow on the ground. I begrudgingly had to admit the prettiness of it. I was not in school that day. I spent the day canning the last batch of applesauce, making another batch of apple butter, and painting sign orders. And listening to Brahms. This time I chose his Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77. There was a period of time when I was obsessed by this magnificent work. For weeks I listened to it every day and I grew to know it intimately. Brahms only wrote one violin concerto and he dedicated it to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim. I didn’t know much about Joachim, so I took a moment last week to read up on him. Joseph Joachim (1831 – 1907) was a Hungarian Jew. His name in Hungarian is Joachim József, because the Hungarians, like the Japanese, put their surname before their given name. He was at the center of the classical music world throughout his life and is considered one of the foremost violinists of the 19th century. According to Joachim, Brahms’ Violin Concerto is one of the four great German violin concerti. Joachim said:
“The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's.”
I spent the rest of morning listening to all four great violin concertos that he names. I agree with Joachim.
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| Joseph Joachim. |
Although the month seems to be flying by, last week seemed slow to me. We’re at that point in the year when the weather meanders back and forth. It snows and then warms just enough to melt it. It rains and the rain turns to snow which makes slush. We freeze and then thaw. The ground hasn’t frozen yet, so everything is squishy and muddy. We don’t get much sunshine, just brief breaks in the clouds now and then to remind us the sun is still up there, but not doing such a good job at warming things right now. It’s like March, only in reverse. I spend almost all my time indoors now. There isn’t much to do outside except the chores. I do take walks in the mornings or the evenings if the weather is amenable, but they are not the languorous strolls I take in the warmer seasons. They are brief and my pace is brisk. They are more for reconnaissance than relaxation.
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| A snowy sunrise. |
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| The larches on the hill above Gold one afternoon last week. |
After Monday’s snow, the weather warmed a little – enough to melt the snow. On Thursday it rained all day. That night, the rain turned to snow. Friday morning when I looked out before dawn, I could see that there was snow. Around 6:00, the snow plow went up the road and I began to think maybe there was more snow than I first thought. After it was light, I went out to fill the bird feeders and I measured the depth of the snow – three inches. Hardly enough to justify plowing. Maybe the plow drivers were excited to use their equipment for the first time this season.
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| Friday morning. |
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| Friday morning. |
We decided to go down to the Thayn’s house for the weekend. We left on Friday afternoon. The drive seemed extra long to me. It is four hours to their house and I dozed, as I usually do, half of that time. We packed a dinner to eat in the car. We didn’t get there until after 8:00. On Saturday, yesterday, we spent the day doing a bit of Christmas shopping and some yard work. We mowed the lawn, raked up leaves, power washed the house, and put up Christmas lights. We also spent a lot of time sitting around, talking, playing games, eating food. Today was the Primary Program in their ward. Hazel, June, and Mabel all had parts in the program and they did a great job. After church we ate lunch and then headed home.
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| Deer in the Thayn's front yard on Saturday morning. |
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| Power washing and gutter cleaning at the Thayn's house. |
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| Christmas lights up at the Thayn's house. |
We brought the girls home with us. The drive home was extra long as we had to keep children entertained (mostly Mabel, who is not a happy traveler). We arrived home a few minutes ago while there was still a little light. There was only the littlest bit of snow still on the ground. Mabel and I went to the barn right away to collect eggs that had been accumulating since Friday. There were twenty eggs. Now we are settling in, getting the girls situated. With the granddaughters here, the house is filled with energy. I’m glad they like to come to Grandma and Grandpa’s house (and Aunt Miriam and Hannah’s house). During the week ahead, Miriam will be in charge of them during the day while the rest of us are at work. Tabor and Rachel are driving up to join us on Wednesday. On Thursday we will celebrate Thanksgiving together. I wish you a joyous Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.
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| Hazel, June, Mabel, and Florence. |
Dan
