Weaving Vines to Vine Parties

Last Spring we planted star jasmine vines in front of six foot trellises to give us something soft to look at, and provide some privacy. Once they were established, we put them on the drip system and our neighbor, who’s a master gardener, did the nurturing while we were gone for the summer.

We returned to find them thriving, their long legs waving in the wind.  This week, I spent an afternoon weaving them gently in and out of the trellis squares, linking the structures together with the perky green leaves.

Like young children, they had their own exuberance and sense of direction. They didn’t always want to go where I intended, so I had to alter my plan and when I finished, the whole thing just flowed with its own joy.

It reminded me of one of our granddaughters who, one winter day,  just came up with the idea that she’d have a Vine Party.  “What’s a Vine Party ?” her mother asked, but never got a standard answer, so she helped decorate their house on Owl Drive and called to invite some of Anya’s friends to come over and join in the fun.

I loved the whole idea and wrote a poem.....

Dedicated to Anya, Who Knows What It Is

It leaped out like a freckled frog

singing soprano for attention.

“We’re having a Vine Party”

Nobody knows what a Vine Party is, 

but the four year old wants it 

and the giddy guests are on their way. 

Be gone you dull grey pigeons, grackles, and geese

This party will be a mystical affair

with ruby-throated la la birds

and irreverent cardinals on the porch bannister

In the Village of the Owl.

Vanish, you of the grouchy days

lying there with a case of the “guilties”.

March with us 

while the lilies sing lost concertos

to hip hop choirs

In the Nest of the Great Horned Bird.

And we, 

dressed in our tutus and neon tuxedos

We’ll pluck Joy from the Vine.

Because we’re four years old 

and we know what it is.