August 15, 2010

As you already know, I like to ramble on a bit with scattered thoughts…its probably natural to think in unorganized ways that skip around. I mean, clouds don’t march do they?

Oh well.

It’s been hot. There’s been no rain. Harsh describes the weather. That I spend close to fourteen hours (or more) every day working or just being outside, the weather is my home.
I don’t usually have the luxury of separating myself from the weather with walls, roofs and air conditioning until the day is over and I gather myself for a nights sleep. This type of life has pushed me beyond the five senses to a sixth which sensitizes me emotionally and physically to the weather, almost as if I too am a plant depending on sun, rain, warmth and cold. I too, need all these cycles and seasons…I need to feel them on my skin and bring them into me with deep breaths. I don’t think, that no matter how harsh the weather becomes, that I could totally deny it with walls. It’s not the life I want to live.

Today is Sunday. Quakers call it first day. It’s the first day of the week. Tomorrow is second day, and then the next is third day and so on. It’s the same with the months. August is eighth month. Today is first day, the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Pretty simple stuff.
Quakers live in simplicity. They more or less search for simplicity. And they search for silence. All the clutter and noise is just litter. When all of the junk is cleared away, there is an open path to God. It makes sense. This is why I am Quaker. It makes sense to me.
Once a while ago, a good friend told me that any religion is a good religion. Any way to God is a good way. I think this is the wisest statement I have ever heard about searching. It makes a lot of sense to me.

Mr. Mower Man has moved away. His acre back yard has returned to natural growth, and nature is moving back in. A lone turkey spurned from its flock hunts seeds and insects there almost every day. And a lone doe deer visits the ‘once was’ yard too, sometimes gaining the courage to be in the wide open and wandering over to our yard to eat the hosta plants in our birdbath garden.
This all leads to a moment I had yesterday. Let me explain: I was in the strawberry field and when I left, coming out of the gate, there stood the same turkey, not less than ten feet away. Both of us were surprised…enough so that we both froze facing each other in an unexpected encounter. If we were cowboys it would have been much like a stare down before the duel. Neither of was going to be the first to blink.
So to break the ice, I began a one sided conversation with the fella. “What’s your name?” Where are your turkey friends?” “I won’t hurt you”, yada yada yada…
That was enough to ease the tension. The turkey pivoted to the left and very slowly walked away – but just to the raspberry hedge. And began to peck off my raspberries….I figured there were enough for all of us and let him be.

One last thing. Orion. At this time of year I can see the constellation very early in the morning just above our tree line to the east. It’s the harbinger of an ending summer and the transition to the fall. It signals that the days will quickly become shorter, and the time to harvest the last of the summer crops will be upon me soon…