231020 smelling autumn
October 20 2023
As Fox and I walk up the camp road, I can smell the October leaves; a distinct soft and brown smell.
We walked to the top of the meadow and then came down, but near the top of the road, where it turns north and the top of the meadow is to your left, he wanted to be carried. "Gamma cayyie. ". So I hoist him onto my shoulder, since he is quite heavy for my hip, being two years old. Do I feel so frail that I am surprised by this competency? I can carry him easily on my shoulder. (When my children were small, if I had to carry them a long way, I would imagine that I was carrying them seeking refuge from war or flood. In such a situation so many parents have carried their children miles and miles, then slept by the road, and rose to carry them miles more. How fortunate we are to live in a safe country with resources for life.)
And it is a surprise that I do all the things a grandmother should do, without every having read a book or been to a workshop! I am so good at some of it. My home is filled with interesting and eclectic things that can be examined or explored. There are crayons and bubbles, birds, creatures, plants, dirt and stones.
If it is being "on top of things" to drive to Sherbrooke, then Magog, on Monday, and then Magog again on Tuesday, means that I still have it, then you can count me in. And count on me. I wonder how much of my supposed frailty has been self-perception; maybe I needed to push myself to see what was there.
Tuesday night, returning at two in the morning, we were surprised by a deer crossing the road. I was watching for them; there is nothing and no-one else on the road at that hour in this mountain otherworld. It is really another world, where people are your neighbours and share your every day, where there are few of us, without doctors, without all-night Tim Horton's, without all night ANYTHING!
There is nothing more wonderful that driving these roads at night. I must be slow and careful, because there are a hundred blind hills and corners and almost never a passing marker because of all the twists and hills. But then, I like to drive as fast as my car will go while safely making the blinds, mine is not a race car, not low to the ground; I am wishing for my Mazda Five, which they no longer make. It was a stick, fast and low-slung, and easy to handle.
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Left-handed: After sixty - something years I finally found myself a left-handed can opener. To be honest I did not think of it until now! I have to re-learn can opening because my right hand still wants to do the turning. But oh, how easy once I get it right! (or left!)
I also bought myself a small pocket knife for the woods. It is a "switch-blade" that folds closed . IT is right handed, that is, the lock is unlocked by the right thumb, right to left. So I have started learning to open and close it with the right hand, while trying over and over to find a way to close it with my left. Opening it works for either hand.
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I am wanting to write but so much is going on that I can't talk about just now, respecting the privacy of others. No-one is in jail or jeopardy, but k and I are still struggling with his health issues. A broken hip does not repair easily, the body takes a beating and needs recovery from the trauma.
The coyotes have been howling at night. We hear them all across the valley, from the hills behind us to the other side of the river, where the hills run north. Thanksgiving came and went. Rain's Thanksgiving party was called because of the predictions of rain, not her prediction but the weather channel's. K and I should have some thanksgiving ceremony to honour the blessings we have received.
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