Here’s a picture of a squirrel I feed. She shows up every day on my porch, like my other outside children do, so I grab the jar of peanuts and instruct her to follow me to my mom’s cherry tree. She follows and I toss some peanuts under the canopy, where she dines with a meditating cat statue and a fake stone that reads, “Make Your Mama Proud.” The squirrel is going to have babies soon, and she will tell them to come here for food. She will drop them off one day and that will be it – I will be happily feeding all of them.
The physicality combined with the stress relieving exertion usually leads to a good night’s sleep. Whether I am up to my elbows in dirt sowing seeds, planting plants, putting cages around my perennials, or digging up old bricks from a long ago fire pit, working outside is not only beneficial exercise, but it is a sort of meditative state for me. I don’t have to think about what I’m doing, so my mind can wander. Using my strength and feeling the ground underneath helps to center me when I am feeling shaky. Sweating and feeling the ache in my muscles at the end of the day means that I got a lot done, even though sometimes it doesn’t look like it.
I dug up all these bricks from the other side of my yard and piled them up here. I’m considering rebuilding a fire pit, but for now the accomplishment of digging up and stacking the bricks is enough.Very close to where I found the old bricks I found this cement slab. I hope it was part of the former fire pit and not a pet cemetery situation. To be determined…
I refuse to partake in this prompt. This question has been asked 14 different times in the past three weeks.
I have a lot going on, and I’m not here very much – certainly not as much as I would like. I hope you are all doing well and I hope to return in a more present fashion soon.
It’s usually too late once you find them. There might be poo everywhere, and I’m talking about the cats here. When kids are quiet, they might be drawing on the walls with Sharpies. Sometimes they form an alliance and the cats eagerly and happily accept the food that is purposely dropped on the floor.