For a very long time I never went outside, except to my car. Or when I was in town and had to be on foot for awhile.
It was always too something. It was below zero and snowing. Or raining. Or the wind was gusting up to 30 miles an hour. Or it was above 95 degrees out.
I would sit outside when my neighbor would make one of her infrequent visits.
That gave me an idea. Even on bad weather days, it isn’t the whole day that is afflicted most of the time.
So, now I take my second cup of coffee outside, unless it is actually precipitating or blowing a gale.
Things look different outside. It is very quiet today, despite the almost certain drama in one or another of the forty odd households within three miles of my porch. The sky is deep blue today and dappled with painterly white clouds. Not smoke plumes. There are none of those visible today.
I don my shades and sit in my comfortable old patio chair. My eyes rest on a dead tree in front of my house, a reminder of money I’ll-spent and a broken friendship. But today I spy a mid-sized songbird perched on my dead tree with something in its mouth. It pauses for a minute to rest, then flies off into the sage with its prize.
I don’t see any rabbits, and this is their season. I have heard that there is a lagomorph virus devastating them right now. I miss the Cottontails, but especially the Jack Rabbits, which are delightful.
From out here I can see the highway that goes by my house. For 8 years I lived on Hall Road in Sonoma County, California. We were at the end of the road, near the hairpin on to Sanford. That old country road was as wide and as well maintained as this major northern New Mexico highway.
Today I spied to 18 wheelers, one going east and one west. I usually don’t see that. Some days there is no traffic at all. I am glad I am not on the roadway now, heading to town.
The sun, which had been dazzling, tucked behind a cloud. I swilled the last dregs of coffee and turned to go back inside to my chores.
It almost seems odd that such a small thing, which takes so little time, would make such a large impact. Maybe we were meant to be outside. Maybe that is where the real world lives.
Lovey share, Annabel! Sending you a big hug!
Wish I had your backyard. Landscaped by the Creation.