We’ve been having a heat wave and it was time to write another blog, so I decided that duty would win out over the garden – providing I had a nice big frosty glass of home-made iced tea at my elbow.
My heritage insists that tea (preferably hot) is the panacea for all of life’s stressors. Being a modern (dare we say rebellious?) scion of my family, I have deviated to iced tea. I was just about to pour myself a large glass when my eldest daughter shrieked. A baby bunny was hippity-hopping across the lawn – and all three dogs were roving in the vicinity.
We coaxed and cajoled and promised many, many treats. Party! The dogs came in tails a-wagging. Laurel fed them way more treats than were good for them, I put on my leather rose gloves, and we mounted a bunny rescue mission.
I am a klutz. I trip and stumble over a breath of air. So catching a terrified, six inch bunny was not easy. I was afraid it would die of a heart attack. Finally I was able to scoop it up; it cried piteously and once jumped out of my hands. But I got it to the blackberry thicket where it hopped under the bramble, and I hope out of immediate reach of the predators that are part of country life.
I needed tea. My wonderful daughter had poured me a huge glass and had it waiting on the counter. I shed my work boots and gloves, ready to relax. A dog barked, and still jumpy, I jerked around. My elbow caught the glass and it shattered into a pool of icy-cold, amber liquid glinting with glass shards.
This is not how I pictured my tea.
Barefoot amid the splinters, I hollered for help. While the dogs wailed and whined about their isolation (shut up for their own safety – pulling glass from paws is not fun), we mopped up.
Finally…the dogs are asleep, the bunny is safely living its bunny life, and I have my iced tea on the table beside me. So, what should I write about?