“If you don’t like the weather, wait a day.” That’s a common saying here in Virginia. Which is why, if you passed my house Easter evening, you would’ve seen a grape arbor transformed into a tent.
We had a freeze warning. Temperatures fluctuate in April. But the 80 degrees in late March confused my vines. They branched out. Rats!
When we had a May freeze in 2020, the tender leaves blackened. A sad sight. I wanted to protect at least one of the four vines from a similar fate.
So, although I pushed past my personal freeze up in the fourth and final Oracle, I didn’t work on the story. Instead, I wrapped an 8’ x 8’ x 7’ gift. To myself.
I had enough blankets and tarps. And burlap. And sheets. And a bolt of bright orange felt I’d forgotten I had. All to protect my smallest and youngest vine. But that’s Virginia.
The freeze happened on a night and a morning when I didn’t have church or school. And that’s God.
This morning all the branches look healthy. Except for the ones I snapped off when a blanket snagged. And the freeze? It spared all four plants. Thankfully, I don’t have 31 like my vinedresser.
I will have her stories—Autumn, Summer, and Spring—out before July. I hope you’ve read her first story, Winter. If you haven’t, it’s available now in my MiniBuk Fire Flight from my website www.deniselajuanpeters.com.
Or, if you’d rather wait, I plan to include the first story with the other three in the second MiniBuk.
Meanwhile, may you live as long as Melchaiyim, even to the end of the age.