Yesterday was the last day of February, and it was one of those "magic light" days. Just gorgeous and warm! I got so frustrated trying to re-install my printer that I un-installed it again and went for a walk out around the old home place. I need to use a cane now, so I took it, my camera, a bottle of water, and three bite sized snicker candies, in case my sugar dropped, and I took a solitary and very slow walk around the old house, barn, and out buildings.
Sounds from inside the house caught my attention. I thought I heard a cat hiss, but I didn't see one anywhere. A buzzard flew out of a hole in the roof where the front and back parts of the house have separated, and wrens fluttered about in the little tree holding the kitchen up. Some other kind of bird was busily flying and chirping in and out of the window on the other end of the house.
I wanted to walk through the fields down to Papa's big pond, but I can no longer hold out to do that. I wanted so bad to sit down cross legged on the big flat rock behind the old barn and just look out across the overgrown fields for a while, but I knew better. I wouldn't have been able to get up. Since there was nowhere else to sit, I just pondered a bit and kept walking at a snail's pace back around the barn, past a horde of bumblebees milling around the loft and stable, to the front yard of the old house at the end of the gravel road back to our house.
The moss covered rocks at the edge of the woods beside the road looked so inviting and cool, but I didn't sit. I was getting hot and tired, and my legs and back were getting wobbly. The shade along the road felt good and the water tasted so good.
I was almost back to the house when I saw hubby coming through the gate in a panic. He had been outside somewhere when I left, and we had had a bit of an argument before, so I didn't look for him to tell him I was going walking. He had been all over our house, my mom's house, and outside, and couldn't find me. I had scared him, and I was sorry about that.
I got fussed on. Didn't I remember there was a bobcat and coyotes around? What if I ran into a copperhead or rattlesnake? What if someone kidnapped me? What if I stepped in a hole and broke my leg or hip? Don't do that to him again!
He was right, but I enjoyed the stroll alone with my thoughts so much that it was worth getting chastised. I was ok, although barely on my feet by the time I got back, and we wound up laughing, because I didn't know where he was either when I left. Turns out he was under the floor of the house fixing a pipe. He didn't tell me where he was going, and he's not in great shape either! Things could have happened to him too. It's not easy being old...
Wagon wheels in the buggy shed
I only brought back one "treasure" this time, and it was a very small rusty piece of iron that I found on the rock behind the barn. I usually find bits of pottery or glass pieces uncovered by hard rains. The rusty bit must have gotten uncovered from somewhere and placed on the rock, because I didn't see it the last time I took a walk.
There's nothing like a slow walk in nature, absorbing all the sights, sounds, feelings, and smells, and feeling the peace and calm of just being. I still feel like a different person today, so it was worth getting fussed on. At least he still cares and tries to protect me after almost fifty-three years!
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