Visited By a Rainbow

Currently, I am an hour north of Madison, sitting on the porch of an Underground House. I ventured up here for a couple of days to clear my head. On July 4th, I biked in Madison after 9 p.m. The fireflies were amazing but the loud parties, and deafening fireworks made me feel as if I was biking through a war zone. Living in Madison was already an adjustment the last few weeks. I’m not accustomed to having neighbors or seeing people everywhere I go. As much as I love the bike trails and lakes of Madison, I much prefer the quiet of my home and garden.

My parents purchased this property in the late 1970s. In the time of high interest rates, the builder encountered financial trouble and the house and acreage was put up for auction. Since my father was interested in ecological buildings and alternative energy sources, this space was perfect for him. For the last few decades, this land became a family gathering spot and an earthen canvas on which to create.

The interior of the house was unfinished. Dad would drive the two hours on his afternoon off to work on bits at a time. As he became less enthralled with the practice of medicine, he managed to have more time off. Wednesday afternoon became all of Wednesday. Every other weekend, he wasn’t on call. He would build small buildings in sections in our basement and we’d haul them over in our 1974 brown Buick station wagon. When he bought the old pipe organ from church, we hauled the pipes that way too. This is known in our family as the organ transplant. After college, I didn't quite know what to do with a double major in economics and international relations. After working in a restaurant for a while, I felt I needed a change. I lived in the earth home for six weeks, starting one November. It was my own abbreviated Walden experience. There was no heat, running water, or electricity. While I was there, I spent my time writing, thinking and interacting with nature. Dad had a wood stove in a dome building he made. I would heat up water with wood. He fashioned a shower using a motorcycle battery to pump the water. I was content. It was during that time that I decided to become a teacher. That was almost 35 years ago! And now, here I am sitting in the earth home, thinking that maybe I don’t want to be a teacher any more. What more do I want or need to accomplish out of life? This home is nestled in a very active and populated Amish community. The Amish family next door helps to look after the place since my parents don’t live here full time anymore. The trees that I planted when they were a foot tall, are now close to 30 feet high. They block the noise from the state highway the distance. The small county road I see out my window is rather quiet. Of the last three people to go past, two were in horse drawn wagons and one was riding a bike.

As I look out over the trees and fields, there is a quiet backdrop of birds. There is a large tree branch that obstructs much of my view of the driveway from when I was last here. My first thought was to trim it. But then I watched a hummingbird sit on a small branch of this obstruction for over ten minutes. It would fly off and come back and sit for long stretches. I had a sense that somehow the birds knew of my plan to alter their world. In a matter of half an hour, I saw Eastern bluebirds, an oriole, and a pair of gold finches in addition to the hummingbird. Then I thought of the colors: Ruby throated hummingbird, orange oriole, yellow goldfinch, green of the female goldfinch, and a blue bird. Then I realized that I almost have ROY G. BIV! Here I sit, watchful, hoping that an indigo bunting will happen along. My only hope for violet would possibly be one of the fowl that the Amish raise. Secretly, I’m also hoping for a cardinal for a more pronounced red! Certainly, this was a different type of rainbow. (Not sure why I didn’t bring my camera with me. It’s getting a bit dark anyway.) Were I to cut that branch, I’m sure the birds would find another tree in the 15 acres of forest around me but then I’d have to seek them out in the future. This way, they come to me. But the lesson I learned is the branch needs to stay. As humans, we seem to have this need to change things and alter the world around us. I want to experience more of the earth home and listen to the lessons that nature is teaching me, a much better backdrop for staying in the moment. Silence and quiet can be a much better teacher than noisy activity.