220326 trusting the signs ... well, everything.
Mar. 24
The first sunrise of spring: I should have accepted this as a good sign for the week; I will accept it now as an omen of a good spring.
I am thankful for a safe end to a stressful week. On Thursday we were double-booked: Rain had an errand in Magog, forty-five minutes east, that was a twist of maybe and changes, and my appointment with a vet, in Lac-Brome, forty-five minutes in the other direction, had been tweaked, by fate, to a worse time conflict. In the days before, we fussed back and forth about cancelling one or the other, and I think we were tangled in each other's emotional prickles, as we tried to firm up a plan. Doggedly, (offence, Rocky? or good?) we made plans that would work, with two cars, instead of one. Amid threats of freezing rain we set off, Rain east and Rocky and I west. By the time Rock and I were on the highway the drizzle had ceased and the drive to the vet was easy. By mid-afternoon, Rain, baby, Rocky and I, were safe at home. It felt like we had been under a storm all week, and on the other side of the day there was a gift of calm and gratitude, that we had safely accomplished what we needed to do. Rock and I went to the ridge before dinner and followed the second stream up as far as the trail. We have had many grey days this winter but that afternoon the grey was palpable, lingering among the hills like chiffon, no, heavy, like damp wool. The snow is old, flecked with bits blown from the trees like soot.
*****
The vet visit was excellent, from the friendly administrators to the down-to-earth doctor. Rocky was poked with several vaccines and microchipped. (I wonder if and for how long Fig's microchip will ping under his cairn.) A small laugh that they gave me a little tag for his collar that SAID he was microchipped. A little redundant. The chip is for when he has lost his collar! Rocky is in perfect health and was a perfect patient. Except the teeth, he didn't much like his teeth looked at but he didn't bite or growl or squirm out of my hands. He climbed up the little staircase onto the doc's table like a pro. He weighs seventy-five pounds; doc said he was a perfect weight, ribs can be felt, he has a waist. They gave him a "birthday" in February, 2013, just to keep track of his age I guess. Coolest thing, besides having Rock safe from rabies and other not-nice things, was seeing a young horse in the paddock beside the parking lot! I haven't been that close to a horse since I was sixteen.
*****
It has continued to be grey and rainish, but a few degrees above zero, nice for our walks. Water is pouring everywhere, through every pathway among the trees and down the camp road, with a, "Thanks, guys, this is a great temporary river!". There are sacred pools among the trees, of clear perfect water, lined with the velvet brown leaves of last year. Nature has set a "heartstone" on the edge of some, these casual ponds, but sacred, like a Balinese canang sari, left by a gate for only a day. *
This pond is deep enough for me to bathe. (The air was too cold to be taking off my clothes, the water maybe colder.)
The camp road: Blackie and Rocky. Rocky is crunching up a deer bone, probably from the same deer that has been keeping the animals sniffing around the cow pond since mid-winter. For the first time, I heard them growl at each other, but Rocky wanted it more, Kevin Behan would say. *
*****
I was at the IGA this week - I'm there only every few weeks: it's much bigger than the grocery store in town - and the grocer showed me where to find local produce! They have a special section marked "Quebec" (duh!), of fresh greens from greenhouses, and apples, of course. I looked at the exotic fruit from far away countries, in lovely boxes, sometimes a stray green leaf still among the orange globes, but the reality of their travel from where they were grown stops me from buying them. If I won't travel by plane then I can't grasp buying a mango that took a flight to get here! I keep picturing them in seats, ordering drinks! Some produce travels by ship, and from Mexico and California, by truck. I don't miss bananas, but perhaps K does.
These tomatoes and lettuce made a welcome fresh salad. I mixed up a dressing of apple cider vinegar (four parts), Balsamic vinegar (one part), maple syrup (one part) and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. (Alas, and now I know, the vinegar is from Italy. The journey towards a "village diet", locally-sourced, is sometimes in baby steps.)
*****
I am grateful for a good day on Thursday. I am grateful that my winter boots are warm and keep my feet dry (!) while the hill runs with water, and for Rocky, my friend and walking companion.
Thank you for visiting. Keep well.
Mumma Yaga
* caning sari: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canang_sari
* Kevin Behan: I like this person. https://youtu.be/spfaGFSDGLo
Comments
Post a Comment