The Shadows are Long, my Breath is Short

November 19 and I have succumbed to a wind invasion. This is a Chinese Medicine term for a cold. Well, based upon my limited understanding of the complex medicine, it can be a condition of disharmony in the body caused by actual wind (air moving quickly through space) or by airborn pathogens. It's funny how language informs experience. Ever since my introduction to the phrase "wind invasion," I find myself more edgy and aware of my suseptibility when the cold wind is blowing. Anyone who spends any amount of time with me can tell you that I am quite vigilant about covering my neck at all times when the wind is blowing- because this protects from the invasions that are carried by this element (which, in my opinion, can also be cleansing and uplifting and definitely has its place in the scheme of things- moving weather systems in and out and such). Of course, the wind and the pathogens it carries usually won't get me unless I am run down, which I must say, after 11 months of busting ass at 2 jobs and working the land on weekends, I might be a little. Temporarily. It is all temporary. So for the time being (like today and likely tomorrow), I am resting in the warmth of my mother's house, out of the wind, drinking hot and spicy ginger tea and sleeping whenever I feel sleepy. It's not too bad.

I did venture out of the house in the warm part of the day to go out to the land and see about the progress of the house building. Part of the first floor was there. Check it out.





The shadows were long, of course, what with the days being short and all. I stood on the partial floor and imaginged how the light will come in the windows. Please god help me Daniel Boone, I hope this all comes together- floors, walls, windows, roof, budget and all. Heck, I'll even toss sanity into that list.

With the shadows being long and dusk falling soon these days, the nights are colder and the wind more dangerous. Last weekend, Michael T came out and helped me by cutting down the old tall pear tree. Poor pear tree. It kicked out some sweet juicy pears in its day and grew tall, very tall. I bought 20 pear root stocks this spring so that I could graft the old boy, but turns out there was no proper scion wood. I even pruned off a large branch hoping for some new shoots of growth for a late summer graft job, but no luck. The tree was rotten inside and dangerous standing there in the middle of the comings and goings of the place that was not trafficked much by humans at all for years and years and is now seeing all sorts of folks rolling up in there. I had a moment with the old boy, then Michael did the deed. It took a minute though, because we had to secure a rope for me to pull with all my might at the right moment, and Michael had to do some skillful chainsaw manuevers. When the tree finally fell safely and not on any person or Airstream, we stood there for a moment looking at it. Then Michael commenced cutting it into pieces that could be roped to the truck and hauled down the driveway. When he cut the first log, out popped a bat. The little feller was most disturbed and I believe frightened. (S)he was probably hibernating in her/his trusty ole undisturbed hollered out pear trunk. What a problem! I poked at it with a stick because I couldn't help it, and it got awful mad. It showed me its teeth and hissed and clicked. Then it climbed up on the stick and I hollered to Michael, who was standing right there, "Look, it's on the stick! It's on the stick!" I was real worked up. Then it flew into the woods. I couldn't stop recapping it to Michael over and over. "That bat just popped out! That bat was so mad! That bat got on the stick! That bat just flew off into the woods!" He just let me repeat myself over and over and over. I guess I was pretty excited with that little run in with a dark mysterious creature.
The next evening, after I had been foraging in the woods for lovely native plants to transplant to the spring area, I was standing in the clearing, and wouldn't you know it, that bat came back at dusk and flew 3 circles around where its pear tree had been. It was sad. Then it flew off back into the woods, where hopefully it found an equally suitable place to spend this season of long shadows and short days.