We all work under a sky. It is my luck that I have an enormous sky. My mother is the sky.
Hard work is not a bad thing. A little winter cold is not a bad thing.
And a little bit of hunger is a tonic for a body. Hunger makes you want more. Better. It makes me fight.
Some pain in the muscles is a good thing. A reward. A knowledge. An aspiring thing.
And all under a prairie sky. My mother.
A sky as wide and strong as a tiny daughters father from her slanting sleepy eyes. A sky as fragile and transient as the bubbles in the bowl of the finest champagne flute.
A sky with all the colours of heat in the cold of a prairie winter. I am lucky.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
56 responses to “Prairie Sky”
I’m sitting in the hospital with my mother looking out the window this morning. The sunrise was beautiful as her room faces east. The landscape is filled with medical buildings, parking garages and a few churches. It is not the same as the big skies of the prairie or the open skies of the planes, but I’ll take what I can get. Mom’s pretty bad now and we are at the decision time to either make her comfortable and stop fighting, or continue fighting for more days. And it is just that, “more days” as the cancer is not responding from what tests they have run so far. An endoscope tomorrow will tell us more. Prayers are greatly appreciated.
Oh Pat I am so sorry. Facing our inevitable mortality is not for the faint of spirit. Lots of prayers coming your way Pat. Such a hard decision for your mother to make but when my own mother faced that time she was very sure of her decision. Lovely that she can be in such beautiful light and with you. Love c
Gentle thoughts and a candle for you and your mum, Pat. May you all have ease in the days to come.
I know you will wonder why a stranger so far away is keeping you in their thoughts today… just because. Sending loving thoughts of strength and clarity. xx
I have been in your place, and you have my prayers. Sometimes the grace is in letting go, so that her last days are days of peace rather than struggle, which is what my mother wanted. I wish you the strength to travel through these coming days. xxxx
I am adding my candle to the circle of prayer, Pat. May you all find acceptance and the final journey be gentle for your Mom.
I have walked in that neighbourhood, twice. If you keep your heart open, it can be beautiful even through the heartache. I will pray for your mother, you and the rest of your family to find grace and acceptance.
Chris S in Canada
Prayers and love to your mother, you and all your family. May these days be peaceful, filled with love and strength. All the best.
I, too, have been where you are. The letting go is so, so hard but comes a time when your prayers change from survival to a peaceful parting. Prayers are with you and yours.
Inspirational words for such a lovely blog!
I love those fragile & transient skies that you shared with us today! Yes, you’re lucky to have such a wide firmament above you. It is our reassurement of living, of being alive… Looking up to the skies. Day after day.
Those mottled expanses of tiny clouds are called “mackerel sky” and are usually precursors of high winds. I hope it doesn’t come true!
Lovely lovely pictures. Thank you.
love,
ViV x
Well it is pretty windy now! c
Batten down the hatches.
Viv it is many a long day since I have seen a sky like those above. We ware warned Storm Gertrude is expected to hit the the UK & Ireland during the early hours of Friday and into Friday morning. Might be time for a duvet day for me!! I would be totally bored after one hour. It might be a good day to open some Guinness and make Guinness Wheaten bread and fill my tins with cake..
Open an extra Guinness Grannymar, drink it down and you won’t notice the cold and grey quite as badly. I would enjoy doing that!
Chris S in Canada
Sounds like a good idea.
I love your sky. I so love the sky! But I think you know that about me already. 🙂
Linda
I love big skies too, wide open skies that hold us. I have big skies here where I live under a big extinct volcano, she draws amazing cloud formations and the sunset colours are vibrant and fiery like your sky colours. Sky is a wondrous thing.
Celi, dear heart…is there a place somewhere which includes more of your writing about your mother? I certainly would like to read that! In the spirit of sharing, here’s a story about my mother. My mom said to me, when I told her I was really going to miss her when she died, “Well YOU better NOT because I’M going to be having SO MUCH FUN!!!” Each capped word was a jab of her index finger in my direction.
So about a year and a half later I found myself seated beside her bed, holding her hand. She was in a morphine coma but I still chatted to her and about her being such a good mother. I was holding her hand and she stopped breathing. Then she made the rattly sound. I had worked in nursing homes and knew how it was when folks died. Then I said to myself inside my head, “Okay, Gayle. This is it.” And immediately the most wonderful wave of happiness came over me! At that moment I slammed my fisted arm on her bed, saying, “Go, Mom! Go! Go!” And she did. And that experience kept me from grief for two months! Much love to you Celi, and to the great fellowship as well…Gayle
Thank you Gayle – what a lovely story – you might want to pop over and chat to Pat R (in the comments above you) she is sitting by her mothers bed right now and things are not looking good. She would appreciate hearing from you. I know she would.. c
And I did… Thank you…..
I was so hoping things would turn out differently for you and your mother, especially after the tremendous efforts you both made to agree to the treatment–even
after that first two-hour trip in the middle of the night for heaven’s sake only to be turned away for another day. Just awful! I will pray your mother has a peaceful
passing. (I don’t know what to say to comfort you. Maybe say what a good and generous daughter you are to be there for your mom. Not easy!)
Winter skies are beautiful. I’d love to see a prairie sky in person someday. 🙂
This post reads like a beautiful poem. Thank you.
Wide open spaces, indeed. I know some people who freak out in such areas – they need the snugness of hills or mountains.
Celi, am I allowed to be a little bit jealous of your skies right now. I live on a hill and from my kitchen sink I normally look our over the town to the hills beyond. Alas that view has been awol for so long I have almost forgotten what they looked like. I long for the days when the winter fleece sky-lining moves back. to brighten my days and allow me to enjoy the sunsets.
Bravo 🙂 An beautiful ode to sky, and life.
I thought the photos from inside the barn today were especially beautiful.
Lovely.
Coming from NZ, I have always been used to the sky having a backdrop of mountains. It wasn’t until I visited a friend in the wheat area of Victoria Australia, that I first saw how BIG the sky can look. I loved it, but I love my mountains too! One day I will come and see the ‘big’ sky on the prairies 🙂
You should Miss Kitty! And come visit me out here! c