It Got Better

After posting on Sunday - and then hearing that dreadful news from Florida - BD and I took a walk to a very special forest and meandered its fairy tale-ish mossy green paths. I hadn't been there for weeks because it has been under water - which is stupid because I own high end rubber fisherman's boots - boots meant to keep you both comfortable and firmly rooted even when the deck is awash and tilting. I could slosh through any puddle a month of rain could lay in my path. But for sure - I know this special bit of woods is a healing place and I should never, ever think I'm in too much of a hurry to stop there and let it perform its magic on me.

RIGHT BRAIN:  She's right, you know.  All too often you zip on home without stopping to take advantage of that gift

 LEFT BRAIN: I know. And you feel too down in the dumps to believe, or even remember, that it only takes 10 minutes to feel that magic.

And that magic is palpable.The first time I felt it was way back around '89 or '90, when I had my first experience of Life After a Library Budget Cut. I'd been through many personal budget cuts ... i. e. being flat stone cold broke ... but that was always my issue. I just hadn't found a job yet. I could do something about it. This was different. This involved OtherPeople'sMoney. Our little library was then in its infancy and was operating on the thinnest of shoestrings.  Suddenly there was a revenue shortfall - probably the result of the savings and loan debacle - and $ for libraries took a massive hit. I was so depressed I couldn't even look forward to going to work. That 35 acres of woods had recently been cut and the jumble and tumult of regrowth had made it a Sleeping Beauty tangle of briers and thorns.  BD took a machete and hacked a sort of path out of the wilderness and I walked through it for the first time.

It wasn't even pretty. It was winter, all bleak and brown and dead leaves. It was a wild tangle of greenbriar, blackberry and holly leaves. You couldn't walk there without scratching your arms to shreds and still yet - in the middle of it all I felt the magic. The peace. The assurance that as dreadful as things get - the earth still breathes her gentle, cradling pulse up and around and through and into you. And like Antaeus - we can draw strength from our mother too - we can heal and stand tall and shuck off suffering and straighten our shoulders - not to lift a heavy burden but to realize that the burden is not so heavy.  I walked out of there knowing there was work to do, but confident that I could do it.  And I did.

And I have known since then that there was a magical place I could go to for healing. Over the years,the tangle has resolved itself into a forest and then our darling Randy came along to make the paths wider - YAY - but rougher, as he cleared away the leaf loam and revealed the tree roots. He also triggered another of nature's amazing tricks - for when the damp paths have no leaves on them emerald green moss, dotted with pale bluets, will spread atop them.  Imagine, if you can, the dark green of a heavily shaded forest with a bright green network of paths woven all about. Here you can duck the heat of the sun. Here you can imagine pixies and fairies, elves and sprites, peeking at you from behind a fat white oak or a fringed cypress tree. Here there is a place for all of nature's land magic. Here you are not in the seat of dominion but in the throng of earth's family. Here - if you let yourself, you can restore your soul to peace and calm.

On Sunday I spent several hours there and Monday, on the way home, I realized that it would take only 10 minutes to top up my peacefulness tank if I just pulled off the road and got out of the car. Nothing I had to do at home was as important as seeking the healing. So I did just that. In my work attire, shoes that were definitely not walking shoes, I slipped beneath the caress of the trees, down a path till I was just out of sight of the road, and soaked in the magic.

For sure - there is ALWAYS enough time to soak in the magic.

RIGHT BRAIN: So don't listen to her

  LEFT BRAIN: And don't listen to her either.

 LEFT BRAIN:  RIGHT BRAIN:   LOL listen to us both. Stop on the way home and take a walk.

I won't. Or I will. I'll remember that we are responsible for making our own selves happy. It's a choice.

Sunday Strolls

I love to take a stroll on a Sunday. If I lived in the city I'd probably head for a park, or an old neighborhood, but since I live out in the wild woods ... that's where I take my walks. And on Sundays in the fall I can go out to White Oak Swamp.  We rent that bit of forest to a hunter and during the season we stay out of the woods except for Sundays. In exchange for the use of our land we get venison, amazing summer sausage and of course, the rent - but rest assured, both parties think they have a really good bargain.

This pretty Sunday dawned with sparkling sunshine - bright enough to get all my laundry on the line in time to dry - even if the breeze has a hint of ice in it today. Sometimes we walk over to White Oak Swamp but with the little pup we don't. She'll get enough miles in once we get there, so we drive over and park at the edge and head south. That blur behind BD's legs is One Happy Callie. 

The little puzzled face thing is One Whiny Puppy.  "Pick Me UP" she's begging - but goodness - she must weigh over 20 lbs now. "No, Juno. You have to walk"

There really isn't anything more tempting than a path through the forest. Here along the east edge the cover is sparse and lots of light shines in. Certainly enough for a little puppy to find her way. 

This magical place is full of cypress trees (I know I've told you all this dozens of times already - but just in case you forgot...)  They're so pretty right now - still mostly green but with the bronzing beginning close to the limbs and branches. They're getting tall too - and knees are popping up in all sorts of places. 

A dog can disappear in a forest like this. 

I'm not sure if you can see this - it didn't photograph the way it looked in real life - but the  moment I saw this I thought "Green Lace!" It's really a sapling ... probably an oak ... that has been eaten away till there is just a lacy remnant to mark it's existence. 

Here is another interesting bit of flora - a holly tree sprouting out of an old moss covered stump. The woods are always so full of magical things. Sometimes I can capture them - sometimes I can only allude to them with my digital images.

Of course - no walk is much fun without lots of stopping and puppy fluffing. 

Aren't I cute, Mama?

No matter how far we walk in WOS there is always something  beautiful to see - breathtaking to experience - so spiritual I can almost be the forest not just be in the forest. How's this for a vaulted ceiling?

Or this for an October blossom?

Or this?

And this? What do you think? A ladder up to heaven? 

 

And what sylvan sprite lives here? A gnome? Elves? Fairies? 

Our walk took us down the east rim, along the south end, up the west woods, with a little weaving in and out among the crossing paths that take you deep into the woods. These shots were taken on the Africa Path. BD has named all of the paths. 

 Sometimes when I'm in this forest I can open up and feel it pour its strength into my body. I think of this particular bit of the farm as The Healing Woods. I remember coming here once so long ago - before there were these wide, easy to stroll paths. I was so sad about something I couldn't change but once I got deep into the woods, whatever was hurting me just floated away - sucked out of me by the spirit of the woods. I still feel that way even when I have nothing to be sad about. However I feel - a walk in White Oak Swamp will make me feel better.  I think it makes Juno feel better too.
 

 If you make enough right turns, though, you'll eventually get back to the car - or at least - you'll get back up to the tar road. Little dogs will stop and look around

Get one more tussle 

Share a bone or two 

And then it's time to head for home - with a stop for a long cool drink of water at Jacob's Gut. Would you believe that's a 12 week old puppy? Me neither. Now ... What's for lunch?

Yes Virginia - there IS knitting at Chesituxent

Whenever I'm knitting something and it stumps me, even for a little while, I first have to send it to time-out and then, after suitable "Think about it" time I pick it up and we fiddle I mean figure out a solution. That was how things were with the neckline of my HCJ. I knew I wanted i-cord but wasn't sure if I wanted to pick up stitches or just knit the i-cord to the bound off stitches along the front - and if I just knit up the stitches did I want to use just the back leg of the stitch or both. I knew it was going to take fiddly knitting so I waited till I had a stretch of boring time and fiddled.

Yesterday I got to take my dad to the dentist and was there an hour and a half. Plenty of time to fiddle. I ended up doing the i-cord on the #10 needless, knitting up from the bound off stitches and just using the back leg of the B.O. stitches. I-cord done with think'n'thin yarn is a trip! Or might I say ... a bumpy ride?

okay. sorry. love me some puns.

Last night I had a bit of a chance to work on the sleeve cap. I picked up the stitches around the armhole opening using the #8 needle I'd used to work the seed stitch border and even did the first short row before I remembered about that #10 needle. I'm okay with this, though, because a little tightness at the join of sleeve and body is a good thing and again - that thick'n'thin yarn covers a multitude of sloppy knitting.

I didn't get much of the cap knit - but here's a long view of the garment with this bit of cap.

I have till March 1 to finish this sweater up but I hope I get it done a little sooner - because I'd like to wear it this winter and sometimes, March 1 is the end of winter. (One can always hope, right?)

I got in a quick visit with Mama yesterday too but I was on the way home well before the end of the day. I'd arranged with BD to call on my seldom used cell phone and let him know when I'd be home. We met up at White Oak Swamp around 3:45 and had the most glorious walk through our national park. Cold had rolled in and the wind had kicked up as well. My goodness, that wind in the bare treetops made a chorus to serenade us while we slowly ambled up and down soft brown paths. It was like going to church. There is nothing like strolling through the forest for making you feel loved by God.