Summer days should not be taken for granted. Some start like spring and then slide into summer. Beginning in August, some carry a wisp of change, some nostalgia. The light will feel different. It is less direct. Even though you might wish to deny it, you know that the days are sliding into fall. Mentor and I wer
e walking toward late afternoon and no matter how far into the season, the high noon sun was still proclaiming summer. It was a glorious day that started out with a twinge of melancholy because it was down to the autumnal 60’s. But it warmed toward the hope of summer at 79 by midday.
The clouds by the river looked
like taffeta and chiffon lifted and tossed by a skilled hand that could capture
the air and then allow them to be moved by the wind to add another billow. The
river was full of water. I watched Skunk dive and come up with the smallest
fish. From where I stood it looked to be no more than four inches long but like
many osprey, Skunk still did her flight around and cried out notifying that she
had a meal. We both looked up to the bare limb where Skunk was attempting to
shake the fish off her claw.
~ ~ ~
Why do old people wake so early? I
am getting there myself. Or should I admit that I am there already? Is it like
the osprey’s urge to migrate, but parceled out on a daily basis? And many
feeling that there is so little time to do all that we dream of doing. My mentor’s perspective on aging seems to be
different than mine. She thinks in terms of energy and the comingling of
spirits. Cosmic soup and the dance. I believe that I have forgotten a lot of
important things. Like some say about children, so able to see and converse
with spirits but losing that connection as they enter the school system. I wonder if I was that way as a kid and also
forgot the many connections I now welcome. It is clear as I’ve gotten older
that I have a sense of urgency about the wetlands and birds, and all of nature.
And, this urgency is woven into my belief that all who I love and have loved
are a part of the ecos. At stake is my connections to my ancestors, the world I
love and want to know will continue.
There is something about the
beauty of the land and water that is impossible to put into words. It is a
feeling. I believe that it is also something like photosynthesis takes place
when we are captured by the beauty.
There’s a dynamic exchange we’re
experiencing and that is why myself and others just want to remain in the
presence of the trees we love, or the water that draws us near, or the
mountains.
from
the old woman and morning songs ~ 12 in bird dreams, riding hope,
- sometimes a fable, weaving our
connections to birds, meandering rivers
and dragons, fermenting miso and consciousness,
wetlands,
our extended kin and ancestors, our mentors, and Wisdom.
Inspired
by actual events and a sense of place and belonging by a woman who addresses
the reader on behalf of the earth
Here’s my links for more writing and copies of my books
