Clover Time

Have you ever found a four-leaf clover?

For the past few weeks, ever since the snow's cleared and the green stuff in our yard that passes for grass has begun growing, I've been on The Search. You know the one...similar to the "stop and smell the flowers" thing but here it's a "stop and count the clover" gig. A couple of times a day as I walk from the house to the barn, pond, greenhouse, garage, mailbox --you get the idea-- I stop. It's actually kind of funny because anywhere I stop there's a patch of clover nearby!

So I stop. Gaze. Count leaves. Scowl. Move along.

Loads of three-leafers, but no fours. Still, I search. Every day. Time and again.

Really. Every. Day.

Hubby grins. "You've got to be patient."

How patient can I be? I mean, once I've checked a particular patch, there's nothing to do but move along, right?

"Take your time," Hubby advises. "Really look." He says the words with an the-angels-are-upon-us tone and if he wasn't so darn cute I think I'd smack him. Maybe with a chunk of clover.

So I look. I mean, I really look.

Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Niente. Nothing. Three leaves, every one.

"Maybe we don't have any four leaf clovers here?" I offer. I mean, I've read the scoop, know about the oxalis and shamrock and Magnoliopsida -- none of that matters. Genus, classification, whatever. All I want is a four-leaf clover, and I don't care about the scientific name. But hey, maybe we don't have them here! It's possible, right?

Laughing, Hubby kicks the nearest patch of greenery and shakes his head. "Oh, they're there. You've just got to keep looking."

Keep looking? Is he crazy? All this relaxing, sniffing-the-flowers, enjoying life, counting-clover-leaf stuff could drive a person insane!

I persevere. I gaze down. I count. I move along. Like I said, this has been going on for weeks.

Yesterday I was on my way to the greenhouse, near the corn patch, and I stopped. Gazed. Counted. Felt my heart hammer. Counted again. Stooped. Reached. Picked.

A five-leaf clover.

Can you imagine? All this time I've been searching for four leaves when, right here in our backyard, we had one with five leaves?

But hey! Do you think there are any more? Five-leafers, I mean? You know this gives me renewed interest, don't you?

But it also means I've yet to find the elusive four-leaf clover.

*Sigh.*

Have a great day. Me? I'll be stopping. Gazing...