Christopher Donahue

It is approximately mid-July and I am happy to report that my tomatoes are doing really well. We are having a moderate drought here but can easily make up with the garden hose anything we might be lacking in precipitation.  Last year it rained too much and there was nothing we could do. The harvest was down  2/3rds  by September!

But this year the plants are doing great and barring misfortune we should have a bumper crop!

Hmm…maybe I should have named my plants…onward with the gardening!!!

copyright 2022 Christopher M. Donahue

Once again, the tomatoes are in!

Each year, I plant my tomatoes at the end of May. This year, things were postponed a bit because I came down with a mild case of Covid-19.  In any event,  I have finally got my ten little plants in the ground this past weekend!

They might not look like much now…

But from humble beginnings come great tomatoes!!!

Copyright 2022 Christopher Donahue

cold days and

starry nights

morning grass and

driveways

soaked by a random shower

passing in the night

like worry through

a happy dream

copyright Christopher Donahue 2022

Another little poem for National Poetry Month:

April Coffee

April coffee

tastes better

in the morning

sitting on my couch

than it does from my travel mug in my car

in honking-start-stop traffic 

and April coffee

certainly tastes better

each morning

with my cat on my lap

copyright 2022 Christopher Donahue

A little poem for National Poetry month!!!

A Morning in the Spring

the cool breeze

flows over

my bathrobe covered shoulders

as I hunch down

in the love seat

with my coffee in one hand

cat treats in the other

which I put behind my head

on the window sill

for Quiet Rustle to devour

but not before

he scans the bushes outside

for birds or

chipmunks

copyright 2022 Christopher Donahue

Spring has sprung…kind of!!!

Spring arrived here last week to great fanfare and expectation. That’s how it is each year in temperate zones and especially here in New England. Everyone knows that while the calendar says spring, the vernal season doesn’t really get going until April. We get tantalized with some nice weather but we all know winter’s icy grip will continue or a bit.

Case in point: Today’s commute.

I woke up this morning to find 20 degree windy wintry weather outside with a coating of snow. The traffic news reported crashes all over the are because of icy conditions. Yesterday, it was 60 degrees.

That was enough for me to opt for working from home. Groggily sipping coffee, I glance at my cat Quiet Rustle who gives me a knowing nod. I’m making the right decision.

Working from home is the right call today.

At least until Spring has actually sprung!!!

copyright 2022 Christopher Donahue

It was an inclement Wednesday evening in March.  The rain and sleet steadily coming down was prelude to an eventual switch over to snow.  I’d come home from work through that mess and just wanted to rest. Basically, I wanted to un-bundle from my winter commuting outfit and relax for the evening.

I had done pretty well this year with my New Year’s resolution of not saying negative stuff about the winter.

But that doesn’t mean Winter hadn’t been a challenge I knew from the calendar there wasn’t much more winter to go. Certainly, there was no guarantee of nice weather for quite a while.

Peering out the window, I thought about going to the church group or library meeting or kung fu or whatever was planned for that snowy, sleety, night.   I I decided to stay home, all nice and cozy with my wife and trusty cat Quiet Rustle.

It was one of the last winter evenings.

copyright 2022 Christopher Donahue

My wife told me I talk too long.

Worse, my cat Quiet Rustle nodded agreement. It was a tough thing to hear  the day before Valentine’s Day. Especially for a romantic guy like me.

Good thing for my wife,  I had already bought flowers and candy and couldn’t return  them! Then my romantic side kicked in:

Love is never having to say your sorry!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

copyright 2022 Christopher Donahue

I tried to sleep through January but it wasn’t possible.   Quiet Rustle my cat was all for it.  But, life and January got in the way.

Besides work, and having to shop for food , there were arctic temperatures to endure and a mega-blizzard to clean up after that kept me from sleeping through the first month of the new year.

However, I am happy to report I kept at least one New Year’s resolution:

Stop complaining about the weather and be positive about January!

The darkness and cold are tough to  endure but what could be more January than that!?!?

Bad weather?

Positively January!

Stay warm my friends!!!

Copyright 2022 Christopher Donahue

It was a brisk eight degrees the other morning when I went out to feed the birds.  I wore my slippers , flannel pajamas, old terry-bathrobe, and  a fluorescent- hunting knit cap to top it all off.   My neighbors might have thought I was crazy.

But, the birds?

They were waiting in the bushes, on the fence and in the trees. Sparrows, blue-jays, chickadees, mourning doves…the usual suspects.   And, they were all thinking  as they saw me approaching in the frigid dawn with a quart-size yogurt container filled with bird seed…

This guy’s good!

copyright 2022 Christopher Donahue