12.29.13 Just One Of Those Places

This is a small place, an inadvertent place.

 A place possibly without notice. 

Only it's one of my places. 

Where I've discovered so much just sitting there, quietly being. 

 After bunch of houses on the left, there's a cornfield, 

with this lone tree, and the ditch. 

I guess life is like that. 

All these all these quiet places

 where remarkable things happen.

12.29.13 Pollyanna, Me,and Yes Shooting Coyotes

Yes you can shoot coyotes in Massachusetts.
Yes you get to use a semi automatic gun while you're killing a coyote
No, not at night. That's illegal.
Yes, October to March, shoot away.
Yes, I get that we killed all of the mountain lions and the wolves and that the coyote are 25 to 75% wolf now, and they breed prolifically if they survive.
Yes, I get that they kill too many deer so the hunters won't have enough.
Yes, I get that the deer hunting is because there are too many deer.
(just try to figure that one out)
Yes, you get to shoot guns and possum and skunk and raccoons and Fisher cats and also anything else you wanted while you're at it.
Yes, one of my best friends years ago was a hunter, and he explained a lot of it to me, when done honorably.
No, I don't like it. At all at all.
Picture this-Sarah Palin in a helicopter, with a night vision semi-automatic, shooting down moose as they run away.

12.29.13 We LIt Off Down The Road

 Finally got the dogs out of the house, tumbled into the car, rain pouring from the skies, and we lit off down the road.
Visibility low, condensation high, mounds of rain sitting atop frozen ground.

At the river, I pulled the young pup at first, getting his harness, the retractable leash, as we tromped up the hill over the crest to view the broad Connecticut.
Not a soul was around, of course, and I took care not to be pulled toward the edge, to tumble down the street side of the Arroyo,, to seamlessly disappear beneath the surface of the waters without a trace. No, would not be good.

So we kept it to the other side of the path, the big wealthy house on the corner fully lit, not a soul at home. Darkness was coming, but we were both my ducks in a puddle, happily strolling down the muddied path into the mist .

The waters of the river churning down by our side; not a trace left of the ice floes of a few days ago.

A certain point, despite his great enthusiasm, I've had enough, and pulled us around, to head back to the car.

Popped the long-haired soaking shepherd into the backseat, and walked around frozen, tire pocked mud to the front, where I lifted out the rags rely awaiting old one. And off she went.

Oh, at home all dogs distain the rain, almost refusing to go out despite necessity.

But here, in the car, on a tromp elsewhere, it's all excitement. Who cares about freezing rain.

And so she and I climbed up the hill, and walked down the other side of the path near the river, me taking great care to not find myself with a very old dog rolling down the steep side.

By now, I was soaking, despite boots and raincoat. My feet frozen, my pants something, my hands cold, and she and I? Well, we could not have been happier.

She walked and walked until finally I cut her short also, much to her disappointment, and she struggled against the lease. Back to the car, picking her up and popping her back in her seat.

The car was soaking wet on the inside from condensation, and we only added to it, as I turned on air and vents and buckled up, to slowly make our way home.

When they bounced in the front door, what's smiling dogfaces! Grand adventure because of pouring rain.

Unbuckling them and toweling them down, I peered outside to catch the sight of a few stray hail ,whizzing through the air, as we settled in for the night

1.1.14 Welcome 1.1.14

Welcome , 1.1.14. 

Nice to be here, isn't it?

 Yes it is.

1.1.14 In The Early Sunlight

Mmmm. 

Small red berried invasive Bittersweet vine,

 shining in the early morning sunlight.....

1.3.14 the effervescent beauty of winter woods.

I love the effervescent beauty of winter woods.

 How the leafless trees reveal this enormous view 

on three side of the foothill . 

How the sun graces each twig 

and bark

 and seed 

and bud 

with its gold

 as the earth turns us away 

from its broad winters light.

1.5.14 So That It Simply Digests, and Passes

Resistance to unwanted 

circumstances has the power

to keep those circumstances

alive and well for a very long

time.

~Pema Chodron~

So true. 

And what a difficult thing to perceive, and then remember. 

All about just saying 'Yes'. 

Yes, the mortgage is late. 

Yes, I had a car accident. 

Yes I have pain. 

Yes I feel hopeless. 

How amazing it is when we sit with a feeling 

and just let it unwind, 

like the way you silently comfort an overtired child . 

And then it digests 

and passes by. 

Miracle of everyday life.