Close to Nature...

 

It was a perfect day for exploring backwoods trails.  "I had meant to do my work today, but a brown bird sang in the apple tree, so what could I do but laugh and go." (Richard Le Gallienne) 

 Well, that's almost the way it was, but without the brown bird in the apple tree, instead the EEEEE of a red-tailed hawk could be heard from high above the northern ridge.  It was enough.

As I walked, I stopped to pull dead limbs, some that were quite large, out of the path's way.  Farther on, we found one huge dead tree had fallen, blocking our way.   I will need help with that one but do know just the right guy for the job.  

It's a rugged and wild land - home of the coyote, and perhaps of a black bear or two, but I don't mind.  Oftentimes at dusk, when the coyotes begin to cry, Hubby will say, "There are your coyotes."  I say, "I like them."  He replies, "I don't."  I am still not sure how Millie feels about them.  I think it is a kind of love/hate thing with her.   

Sharon Butala in Perfection of the Morning, writes quite a bit about the coyotes of far southwest Saskatchewan.    

"In the evening, during the night, and in the early morning coyotes sing to us from out on the prairie.  They are actually calling to their brothers and sisters across the valley or from hill to lonely hill.  Sometimes they sound happy, yipping delightedly out of sync with each other, without melody or decorum; other times their song seems a heartfelt lament to the gods, as humans sing of their sorrow, their suffering across the centuries and around the world."

Back at home, I am continuing to get the house ready for the long winter months.  It's my big fall housecleaning that usually doesn't get finished in the spring.  I have made much progress, both inside and outside, having only my closet to finish and that always-needs-cleaning garage.  I have decided that definitely "less is often times more," as I am calling the photo of the old printers' drawer that hangs above my sewing machine (shown above).  

                                                                 

                                                                    Until next time,

                                                                    Mary

A Wild Jacket's Journey...

It's a long journey from being a worn-out bed sheet to becoming a stunning wild jacket fit for the backwoods trails, but .......   It can happen, and it did.  

I won't clog up the internet with all the fine details, from drafting a pattern to the scary step of immersing this sweet jacket into a kettle of boiling brew.  Lady Luck was definitely on my side this time.  And here it is finished just in time for cooler days ahead.  I did not leave it hanging on the hillside trail this morning but wore it the entire day.