A way of life : 3.8.15

Clarissa Pinkola Estes posted a letter for her many fans last week.
 Her book Women who run with the wolves took 20 years and 42 rejection letters to find publication and become one of my all time inspirational books. In the letter she said....

"Stories are medicine. Medicine for the world. Heavy medicine carried by those who have the deep spiritual muscle to carry the medicine, in fact, persons are chosen. It is not a profession. It is a calling. It is not a bunch of images, symbols and 'stories.' It is a way of life."

Today the mousy little rabbit, settled into her usual spot and devoured her favourite flowers. Is being here photographing the ordinary and the everyday a calling? Is the creative process exercising a deep spiritual muscle? Have I been chosen to carry a heavy medicine for the world?

 There were a dozen other lives I almost lived. I'm not sure how I ended up being here instead of ambling down the city streets where I grew up. But here I am, and yes while I can't fully grasp "the calling" I know this is definitely a way of life, that I am home. 

Do you ever feel that you are living out your calling? Is your own practice more than "a bunch of images, symbols, and stories"? Is it your way of life?

This week's gallery is a collection called Inklings

Mad as a March Hare

"The March Hare will be much the most interesting,

and perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad

– at least not so mad as it was in March."  

thus spoke Alice, in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Last year he was a fluffy bundle. Now he has grown into young Master Hare.

In between nibbling and snoozing, he takes the odd stretch. Is he dreaming of Spring? Can we just get on with it now please, before I fall asleep again!!!

(The tag Mad as a March Hare refers to Spring mating behaviour when females sometimes engage in boxing matches with undesirable males.) 

Contemplation

A quiet moment of contemplation from one of my friends. When life is a bit hectic, remember to stop and smell the mint....says she.......


More contemplative rabbits here

Every hop, nibble and silvery whisker

Sometimes they sit staring into space or take small naps in mid-nibble. As the sun goes down one cuddles up to a rock, settles down and I am left wondering who will survive the stoats and the foxes tonight?

I know now from my lens that rabbits have completely individual faces. Some are braver than others and they seem to have eyes in the back of their heads. The smallest vibration sends them scurrying, their white tails catching the light as they turn towards the hill.

On twitter they joke with me about shooting them! But I see it all through a romantic haze and hang on every bunny hop, twitching nose and silvery whisker thinking how lucky I am to share breakfast with three baby rabbits every morning.

I turned my head for a moment...

A young rabbit joined me for breakfast this morning. There were moments of complete relaxation while we both nibbled. I knew this was a temporary respite. As soon as there was a flicker of the unexpected one of us would bolt for safety.

Then I turned my head for a moment and he was gone.

Sweet nothings

He gathers windfalls and leaves them on the white washed gate post. I used to think it was an invitation to help yourself. Now I know it's a stash he's keeps for the horses.

As the evening sun sparkles on the lake, he takes a few in his pocket and wanders down towards the waterside field. I was there tonight and heard him talk horse.

"There there girl, that's a good girl, ..........."

She pricks up her ears and walks towards him.......

"Do you want an apple? Sure you do, you do, you'd love an apple. What have I got? Have got one for you, have I have......."

She nuzzles, sniffles at his hand.......

"Who's a good girl, O here's himself now, (laughter......as the other horse approaches) would you want an apple too now sir......you would sir, you would......O you would indeed......."


Sweet nothings, coaxings, words of love.

The Mare's breakfast!

When would he arrive with breakfast? The snow had settled as it rarely ever does. The hours were passing and the icy grass was none too appetising.

The mare heard the engine before the foal even realised that at last he was on his way.

Bale after bale of warm hay, thrown over the hedge. Steam rose from it as they both dived in.

Now the mug of coffee and the crunchy toast for me. All of us lucky to have our much needed breakfast on this beautiful but freezing cold morning beside the lake.

Then across the field, the sounds of happy munching........

Snowy dawn!

As the evening draws in, the snow settles and I ponder the long trip I have to make that next day. The forecast suggests it will linger long enough for a dawn ramble before I head off.

Just as the sun rises I am out on the snowy lane. One set of tyre tracks tell me that my neighbour has already made it up the hill. This is the spot where I sailed off into the ditch a few years ago in similar conditions.

The sun highlights the few warm spots and the mare and her growing foal are sheltering with their backs to the ditch, lapping up those first rays. A young girl wanders into the field no doubt plotting a day off from school.

A simple change to the lane and the Comeraghs, but one that makes for a giddy stroll and a decision to postpone my long drive to the midlands for a day or two....

Looking into each others eyes

My children once explained to me that although animals share our world, we treat them as inferior instead of as different. O yes they argued humans think we are vastly superior, so clever, so advanced. But we are wrong they said, all the beings on the planet are just different versions of life, intelligence, adaptation. Each have special skills and advantages. The sense of smell in a dog is 40 times bigger than ours, just for one example. In fact the lads always believed that dolphins might even be superior to all life forms.....

They knew more about it, being closer to animals than I ever was. They slept with them, they kept them in the pockets, under their jackets, about their person. They kissed them and talked to them. They dressed them up in clothes and fed them with a spoon. They studied them.

When they faced me with deeper philosophical teachings like this, most of the time I was willing to learn.

Now looking into the eyes of animals I feel apologetic for all our human superior attitudes and ignorance. They look back into my eyes as if they are listening intently, but especially if we have never been introduced, they look kind of wary........and who could blame them.....

Still so much to breathe in.....

It sometimes looks as if nothing is happening. That things are static or might even be deteriorating. The Irish winter is drawing in.

The tiny windows to my soul, are squinting into the lack of light, trying to distinguish the blades of grass, trying to tell the mucky water from the mucky ducks.

Our winters are not white or dramatic. They are slow and grey and sparse.

But the layers are peeling back and the barest open spaces are revealing life at the heart of the wetlands. Flashes of colour against the fading fields, slivers of light picking up a twitching tail feather.

The hare ambles into view. For a moment he sits, lost in a trance of hare thoughts. Then his strong legs propel him forward again. We are not just waiting for it to be over. There is still so much to breathe in.

An unlikely pair of romantics

The evening light is warm as toast casting long terracotta shadows on the woodland grasses.

The Robin is back! The bare branches allow me to follow him along the track.  But mostly he is following me, popping up ahead, appearing when least expected, and looking at me....I'm sure of it....

She is up ahead walking with her 5 dogs. Now in her late 70's she only goes to the top of the first hill and back, very slowly. She likes to stretch her legs in the evenings glow.

We talk about sheep, dogs, cats, rats. Rats are the big topic today, we both detest them. All my fear and darkness bubbles to the surface when I see one. It can ruin my day. I tell her how I was walking through the forest and one was sunning himself BRAZENLY outside his home. Although charming in a "country rat" kind of way, I couldn't pretend, he just made me shudder.....

You should have a dog she says, they can be great ratters......

She has no romance for this place. She saw too much misery in it. Until she married well enough to a small farmer she didn't have the luxury of a bathroom or a stove. This whole place was full of cottages and houses once, before the Famine times, the few local children now play in the ruins.

We layer year upon year. The past doesn't go away. We resurface it and call it a fresh start.

I'm a romantic I say to her. Look at me taking pictures of sun beams and raindrops.

She laughs. Well you might be, but I'm a doting old thing when it comes to dogs. I haven't an ounce of sense....I have them all spoiled.....

Today I have discovered that we are a pair of romantics and we have more in common than I once thought............isn't that always the way.......

Tea break time and I am oblivious........

A short walk. A long talk to myself.

I probably started blogging out of a sense of loss. Getting older, letting go of my Dad, my office in the city closing due to the recession, the reality of redundancy looming. A day came when I found myself working from home, alone, albeit with regular dashes across the country for face to face meetings. My new office was just a laptop and a mobile phone a far cry from the luxury of a group of colleagues and a swivel chair.

An office in the city created a balance in my life. The city was for work, the country was home.
I could spend lunch time browsing for books, meet a friend in a busy cafe, make a salad plate in our kitchen and share weekend stories with other staff. Now I found myself eating alone, staring out the window into a field full of thistles and trying to figure out how to have an office tea break with yourself?

Before long the birds and I began to chatter over a cup of coffee and found a shared rhythm in our day. Animals turned up while I ate my sandwiches and I became curious about their lives and families. Weather clouds constantly changing, brought light and shade to my life as they drifted overhead and past my patch.

On these days when I work from home, I look an absolute fright! Today for my elevenses I strolled across the fields, and got wet hair and mud on my shoes. There had been so much rain and I squished along the sodden trail talking away to myself. Wet hair, red face, a fat finch on a branch, tiny drops of rainbow colours on the leaf tips. Bliss!

This is how my morning break goes now and for a while at least I am oblivious to work and the rest of the world.........