To the Editor,
I used to feel guilty sitting around the house doing nothing. Recently doing nothing has been elevated to a new level of respectability. It is now noble and patriotic! The suggested response to the coronavirus pandemic is staying in isolation.
I begin my day sitting in my easy chair by the north window of my living room with my toast and coffee looking out over Kennilworth Avenue. I have watched winter retreat and the coming of spring. I see dogs “walking their owners.” I watch squirrels and crows practice “social distancing.” There is a song playing in my head from the movie Connecticut Yankee – “I’m busy doing nothing – working the whole day through – trying to find lots of things not to do – I’m busy going nowhere – Isn’t it just a crime? – I’d like to be unhappy, but – I never do have the time!”
Recently, I gazed out one evening at the bare branches of the huge tree in my neighbor’s front yard. While I was sleeping, Mother Nature waved her magic wand. She filled the branches with lace, an abundance of bright green leaves and transformed the world! With spring comes the feeling of hope and renewal. I have one plant I am watching grow. It is a Flaming Katy. It is a bush of succulent leaves heavy with ground in its white china bowl. It is loaded with bunches of buds which enchant me as small pink flowers appear in clusters. To me, their opening is an ongoing miracle.
Lanesboro is a good place to celebrate the coming of spring. Visitors enjoy fishing, golf, walking and bicycling on the trail, the parks and playgrounds. As long as we have a choice we can embrace what is good and beautiful in life.
Yvonne Nyenhuis
Lanesboro, Minn.