Some Other Days...

Spring On The Mountain

Wild Rhododendrons blooming now. They beautify many pockets of the forest and it's one of the sweetest things on the land to behold.

Back of the house on the path George and I often take to play ball or just walk down to the ponds.

The Sun

It's come around again. The warmth. Still not quite above 60 degrees but what can we expect 1150 feet up in the air. I did notice nettles, about a foot tall, today. The tiny strawberry ground cover that grows everywhere is up and the thimble berry flowers are dying to make way for their fruit. A couple of weeks ago there were 3 trillium growing like lotus in the wetlands.

One of the most wondrous insights into the seasons is the arrival of new birds and other wildlife as the days grow longer. There were at the beginning, of course, a jury of Juncos. Now the list is much longer. There are Ravens, Bald Eagles, a Heron at the pond, Stellar Jays, Anna's and Rufous Hummingbirds, Hairy Woodpeckers, Red Breasted Sapsuckers, (which I wish would stop trying to find insects on my house!), Mourning Doves, Red Winged Blackbirds, Pileated Woodpeckers, Towhees, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Townsend's Chipmunks, Golden and White Crowned Sparrows, Brown Headed Cowbirds, Douglas and American Red Squirrels, and one of my very favorites so far, the Band Tail Pigeon.

Added 5-8  Black Headed and Evening Grosbeaks
Added 5-25 Violet Green Swallows and Gray Jays
Added 5-28 Downy Woodpecker    Also learned that the Sapsucker is not trying for insects!!! His drumming on my downspout is his mating call. He must have found her because it stopped about 4 days after the post about him.
Added 6-1 Evening Grosbeak
Added 6-3 Swainson's Thrush (heard)

George is really good with the birds but not so much with the squirrels and chipmunks. Fortunately, he can't bound beneath the bushes as easily as they can.

Tomorrow is a day of going to the dump and re potting the Mock Orange. Sometime after the back fill happens around the house I'll be able to plant. Until then, pots will have to do. Really looking forward to planting.

In the middle of Harry Potter binging so I'd better get back to it.

Time Has Passed

Suppose I should have looked to see when the last post was but pretty sure it doesn't really matter. But tonight there is a thunder storm. There is that Golden Light and that wafting smell of, I suppose, an ozone kind of thing. Making me somewhat delirious. This is a good thing because there has been a fair bit of spinning out about the news, the greed, the manifestations of suffering and unhappiness. So, I sat on my beautiful bench inside the glistening light of thunderous twilight, found a stillness, then decided to write here. I never really know why I do this. I know I trust the impulse.

The house is built. I have lived here since December of 2016. Moving from my tiny cabin was ungrounding and for awhile this house felt like a hotel. Or someone else lived here and I was a guest of some sort. Now, we're friends, the house and me. Now she is my home. George and I luxuriate and hermit here. Yes, we have friends too. They also love their solitude and when we meet it is always perfect timing. Love is like that now.

This last winter there was snow on the ground here for 6 weeks. Sometimes it almost melted away and then it would return. Standing at the window it always made me smile to watch it drift down and settle. Blowing the steam off my tea against the glass I would make mystical the real. George adored it. Only problem for him was finding his ball! He'd look up as I was laughing and look at me as if, "where could it have gone?"

Truth is, the Fall and Winter were difficult. There had been so much loss of hopes and dreams. Again. At the same time, as is so often happens with change, I learned and am learning mountains about my heart and soul and about life itself.

Grateful is, truly, an understatement. Contentment cannot describe the emotion. Open, comes somewhat close. And from this place I'd like to wish you, whoever you may be, the experience of peace, joy, equanimity, grace, and compassion. May we all be happy and loved.

Days And Nights Moving Toward Equilibrium

8 o'clock and the light is dimming. Used to be brightness past 9. You can feel it in the air and the colors are already changing color and drifting to the earth. The goats would look toward the sky and run to find the newly fallen little treats to gobble down.

I gave the goats to Rusty and his family. The man that built my fence, with hands so beautiful. His wife walked the goats around while we took down the electric fence. Laughing, she called out to us about how the grand kids would love Nina and Katan. My heart sang. I love them too. Still, there is a shedding of responsibilities these days. 

A few days ago, while sitting on the cabin porch swing, a sensation of Solitude came upon me. Looking out toward some kind of light at the end of some tunnel, there she was, a remembering. I could feel the wave of transition, that moment when one time begins to pass into the next, as if time and space existed like an ocean and a shore. It took my breath away and brought it back attached to a huge grinning recognition. Happiness.

The house grows and grows. There is water in pipes that will soon have outlets and run for showers and dishes and cooking. Oh, and an on demand hot water heater. I think I will miss heating water on the stove for dishes and love having it at my fingertips at the same time. There is such a mediation to dishes now. I really want to bring that into the more convenient kitchen. That rhythm soothes and brings my attention into the moment, into presence.

Friday the roofing comes. Monday the electrician comes. After that it's insulation and drywall. There will be chunks of achievements and movement. When I think of this a kind of trembling happens. I don't think I've ever manifested a dream so deliberately, with so much awareness. Such  blessings. I'm searching for ways to be as grateful as I feel. And with all the joys there have been some painful sadness too. Life gives us so many teachers. This too I am grateful for.

Morgan Brig

With all my heart I love her work. More about her if you click on the photo.

7 Posts

There were 7 posts in all of 2015. There were over 200 in 2014. This is making me smile and sit back in my chair and ponder. They say that the best place to start is the beginning. Sometimes I'm not really sure where the beginning began. Birth? Retirement? Finding unconditional love within myself? Finding a piece of land that nourishes me every day? Let's pick one!

February of 2015 I wrote of changes and the land was going to close. Since then even more and more changes pass through my life and change seems to be a breeze instead of a whirlwind. Maybe that comes from being older. Sometimes I think it comes from just letting go and knowing change is whatever age we are. There is such a gorgeous freedom in that..

The country and sky here are magnificent. Every morning I wake up to a Varied Thrush meditating her 3 note chant into the world. George, the intrepid and adorable Labrapoodle, puts his chin on the edge of the bed and reminds me it's time to begin the day. Such a cuddle bug and joy. Sometimes I tell him to go back to bed for just a few more minutes while I luxuriate under the comforters and contemplate the day ahead.

I must have started this post months ago, before I posted the one before this. And the beat goes on.

Once Upon A Time

Over a year ago was my last post. February of 2015 I left the store and ventured into the forest with a plan. The plans have changed, evolved, blossomed, and the forest moves through her seasons like a dancer. Trees have fallen in the wind, roses have bloomed and faded, there are goats on the alder tree line by the cabin and a house with the framing of exterior walls sits on the edge of the western land boundary. There is also a companion, George, who's favorite pastime is leaping through the tall grasses, ferns, and horsetail by the ponds.

My first winter in the cabin

It's pouring down rain and the sound on the metal roof of the cabin stills me. The light through the skylight is golden, streaming through the carbon black clouds that flirt with the bits of blue showing through. Paradise.

Writing is good. There has been so much in a relatively short time. I am so full of contentment and looking forward. Somehow the words of it ground me and render me even more grateful.