Re: Re:Winter Wonderland - a different sort

[Guest guest]

Tonight is supposed to be the second-brightest moon of the year! Last night

was the " first " , but clouds came in at the 6 pm, the peak hour. At midnight,

the clouds had vanished, and grass, woods, sea, all were bathed in silver light,

bright enough to read the newspaper by, if you wanted to do such a mundane

thing. I could imagine the sprites from Midsummer Nights Dream moving silently

through the trees, muted by winter.

Where I am (north of San Francisco), we were told that winter would arrive

last night in the wake of an Arctic storm. I closed all the windows and turned

on the heat. Today is 62 degrees and sunny. Windows and doors are open again.

Waves are high; 30-foot waves were predicted. From my desk, it doesn't look

all that high, but the roar is loud. When I finish here, I'll walk down to the

bluff trail above the ocean and see how it looks and sounds and smells.

The hills turned bright green with the first heavy rainfall, in November, and

narcissi came into bloom. Outside my door, a bush of pineapple sage grew to

at least five feet high this summer, lush, green fragrant. I thought I'd

better cut it down for the winter, but I didn't get around to that big pruning

job. Recently, it burst into brilliant red blossoms, covered with blooms that

the

hummingbirds love.

Last evening, at dusk, I saw a bobcat outside my window, intent on the many

gopher holes that pock the land. The bobcat sat on the ground like a big tabby

cat, ignoring the several deer grazing beside it. I'd never seen a bobcat

before. I suspect that some of the mountain lion sightings are really just

bobcats.

My husband is in Boston, where we used to live; it's a bit colder there! I

have a houseguest who was due to set out for his job in Montana today, but the

minus-15 degrees predicted along the way convinced him to put off the trip for

another day.

Tomorrow, Sunday, the New York Times travel section will have a piece on my

community, The Sea Ranch.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/travel/14SeaRanch.html

I know, we don't usually write a lot about our personal lives or where we

are, but I'm so in love with this time and place that I wanted to speak of it in

the wake of other personal accounts. I'm envious of your snow days -- I miss

that life, too, after 25 years in Boston.

Harper

AIH dx 2000

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[Guest guest]

JoAnn, yes, I do. When I was first diagnosed and very ill. I thought I might

die soon, which didn't frighten me, somehow. I had to wait for my husband once

while he was working. I lay in a field, looking up at trees and down at grass

and a little beetle. For the first time I saw how beautiful every bit of this

was, and how I was very much the same as the trees, the grass, the beetle. I

felt happy with having that moment, without concern for what was to come.

I will say that I no longer feel the intense need to see many different

places. Sitting still and watching is very satisfying, although I would love to

be

able to travel again without fatigue.

Let me indulge myself one more time with something from this morning: I

looked out at a big cedar tree behind my house, barely visible in the ocean fog.

I

thought for a moment someone had hung old, tarnished, red Christmas ornaments

on it. Then the air seemed to shift, and they vanished; perhaps a hundred

red-breasted robins flew from the tree. I can't imagine a better Christmas gift.

Harper

In a message dated 12/14/08 6:20:43 PM, jolingerluscusk@... writes:

> Somehow, now that I have a chronic illness, it's more important to me

> than ever before to be able to see as much of the beauty of this world

> as possible. Do the rest of you feel this way too?

>

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[Guest guest]

Ahhh thanks Harper. I am still here...just busy with shows for my photos, et

all. Plus helping out with the grandbabies, and now nursing their cold they

managed to give me. Got some meds today, but you know how we all just fight

getting over illnesses like bronchitis......oh well.....Life really IS good!

Debby

Re: [ ] Re:Winter Wonderland - a different sort

Ah, Debbie, I miss hearing from you!

Harper

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