Quarantine

Household under self imposed CWQ  (Creative Winter Quarantine).  A few rituals for hiding beneath the surface of regular life:

Chain oneself to a work post and pray that gestation will evoke some magic.

Go down to the Grotto in the woods, listen to the water fall.  Fill as many bottles as you can carry, drink the rest.  The water is soft and sweet and tasting of round minerals.

the Grotto
Grotto

Crisscross under the stone ridge heeding the sound of chipping.  Discover John under the cliff, chisel in hand, searching for essence in an enormous oak limb.  We agree to break silence.  Discuss the brazenness of foxes.

sculpting an old oak limb
sculpting an oak limb

Climb back to the top, embrace an ancient oak. Contemplate the power of their root system via the mirror of their crowns.

oak boughs mirror their roots deep below the surface of the earth
oak boughs – a mirror of their roots

Hop on bikes.  Geneviève and I revel in the anachronism of our neighboring hamlet.    We never run over the geese.

the geese in our neighborhood
the neighborhood geese

Meditate in the late afternoon sunlight.

meditation in the last of the winter light
in the last rays of winter light

Encounter Henri emerging from music or writing.  Examine the progress of soil working in the dark, under the surface of nicely decomposing wood chips.  Marvel at the miracle of mycorrihizae.

checking the soil for mycorrihizae
checking for mycorrihizae
mycorrihizal association just under the surface
mycorrihizal association working so hard just under the surface – see those tiny filaments?

Chain oneself to a desk again.  It takes discipline to avoid doing the important things one should be doing.

End each day with a late night walk along the ridge.  Air is loamy and sweet.  Acorns crunch underfoot.  Lights from the village below twinkle like a fairy tale.

village in the valley below at moonrise
village in the valley below, moonrise

Tune into the oak boughs in the wind, just audible above the velvet silence.  No talking necessary.

oak boughs on stone ridge
oak boughs on stone ridge

 

 

 

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