mumma yaga

 Mar. 17 This morning it was thawing once again. Although it was still only minus five the sun was hot and the snow was sliding off the roof in a big curl. Just after I took this picture the snow wave came crashing down.         Fig went out for a lengthy explore and now he is dozing in the sun: ***** It has been a busy few days. Thursday afternoon (the 11th), as the temperature climbed to 14 above, I snowshoed across to the tree-line to see the stream. Everywhere the snow was disappearing. I wanted to see the stream while it was only beginning to awaken. This is looking east to Owl's Head, from the tree-line stream. I crossed the stream over the bridge, sort of a land bridge; the stream runs through a culvert or a natural channel formed with rocks and boulders. There is a plinth in the middle of the stream. I like to think it once supported a statue guardian of the stream or the woods, a minor water god. Here is a tree for Indre to climb. It will take her acros...

 Mar. 11 What a grey and snow-blown winter we have had! A week ago snow devils were blowing across the meadow like the spirit of Tash through the Narnian forest, sentient, and purposeful.     "In the shadow of the trees on the far side of the clearing something was moving. It was gliding very slowly Northward. At first glance you might have mistaken it for smoke, for it was grey and you could see things through it. But the deathly smell was not the smell of smoke. Also, this thing kept its shape instead of billowing and curling as smoke would have done. It was roughly the shape of a man but it had the head of a bird; some bird of prey with a cruel, curved beak. It had four arms which it held high above its head, stretching them out Northward as if it wanted to snatch all Narnia in its grip; and its fingers — all twenty of them — were curved like its beak and had long, pointed, bird-like claws instead of nails. It floated on the grass instead of walking, and the grass...

Mar. 9 Each small voice adds to the murmur of the river:    It is almost a year since the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 epidemic a Pandemic. I want to revisit some thoughts from June and September, 2020. We have had our eyes open for almost a year now and so many things have not changed. Essential workers, our life-blood, are still working for inadequate wages, with inadequate protection from illness and danger. The wealthy are still making money hand over fist and living largely sheltered from the hardships of the pandemic. (I know that many wealthy and privileged people are giving back to the world in charity and research support.) Corporations are still putting their income, and government grants, in the wrong pockets. Women, children, minorities of colour and different abilities are still being oppressed and abused.  Thank you to those who are speaking out for justice: each small voice adds to the murmur of the river. At some point all those voices w...

Mar. 4 This sign was posted at the medical clinic that I go to, on March 4 last year. Looking back at February 2020, I can't remember what I was thinking then about the new virus. I was busy with grandchildren and my ailing mother-in-law. But on the 4th of March I saw that a pandemic might be imminent, although I'm not sure I used that word.  Over the next few days I did a major restock of our larder, bringing it back to a 4 week supply of non-perishable necessary foods - fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains and cereals. Also stocked drinking water, batteries, over-the-counter and prescription medicines, first aid supplies, toiletries and toilet paper (yes! don't laugh!), disinfectant, isopropyl alcohol, drinking alcohol, dog food.  I thought I might be over-reacting, but it was better to be prepared and it was, in any case, a good rehearsal for a future Event. Also took out cash - in an apocalypse banks and credit cards might become unusable so cash is on our emergency sup...

 Mar. 1  Last night, the moon just past full. We will be calling this the first thaw. Water has been dripping all night: tonight it is going down to minus 17. Outside, the morning smells like Japan. (We arrived in Japan on March 4, 1983, the first day of our trip.) March 1st.: is today lamb or lion? Lamb I think. Melting, intermittent sun. Black clouds at midday have been chased off by fluffy whites. The wind picks up however and by tonight the lion will rule. We are in transition now. March and April will walk in rain boots and snowsuits towards the leafing of trees and the greening of gardens. A time to remember that journey is destination. A journey is walking and resting, going forward but seeing all that is around you now. The morning and the evening will show the distance you have come. The ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) is simply that, estimated, not mandated, not conditional; the arrival is only a another stopping place on the journey for a day, or a decade. Rest, ren...