Beauty and the beast

Yes, I am real, painfully so.

 

This has been a tough week for me.  Thankfully, although I live in the city for now, I still have places that I can feast my eyes on woods, water, wildlife and other things that bring me peace.  I miss the quiet of the woodlands, the really dark nights, the opportunity to have a fire ring, and other things that I connect with my time back in the countryside.

I am never prepared for meanness.  I am not a mean person, and if I think I’ve hurt someone, I made great pains to remedy that.  When it is turned towards me, it takes my breath away and makes me ill.  I think that thing that bothers me so, is that I seem to have a blind spot about people – never expecting to find such ugliness and hurtfulness beneath a calm and attractive exterior.  The one thing that it did do was tidy up some unresolved feelings, that’s for sure.

As I usually do when I need to think, I search out quiet and healing places – things that connect me with natural beauty, peacefulness, and calm.  Here is one of the places that I seek out.

Creek and bracken forest

In my stroll about this day, I found signs that even down here in the Deep South, we have a maple or two that finds it way here, and sheds leaves with the startling brilliance that I am so familiar with from my times in the mountains and further North.  There is something so lovely about turning leaves, perhaps the changing of the seasonal feel of the air, the knowledge that when further North, time will slow for a while and we will huddle inside while cold winds blow and wood fires burn – bringing the scents of fall and winter back into our awareness.  I miss the slowing, as down here, it gets more frenzied as winter visitors drift down and crowd the roads, escaping to our warmer climes to avoid the snow and ice.  It has been in the thirties here, and I’ve slept with open windows, reveling in the colder temps.  They are such a nice change from the oppressive heat and humidity that is the norm here.  Our winter is more like other’s fall season.  It makes it good for growing things, the normal lack of freezes, or at least limited exposure to them.  The citrus needs the freeze in order to sweeten it, rather like kale and other winter greens increase their sugar content by a touch of those temps as well.  It has been brutally cold for my friends in other states, but I’ve seen some lovely photos too, so perhaps also beauty and the beast.

Fall preserved under glass

But in this painful emotional time, I’ve also discovered support of truly wonderful friends, people who knew nothing about anything that has transpired.  That was heartwarming and touching.  I believe that personal lives should remain personal, regardless of how things play out.  Adults come and go from other adults lives, that is a given fact.  One can hope that others will, and one should conduct ones own self,  with gracefulness and maturity no matter.  Others, lacking the characteristic of empathy, or even perhaps lacking feelings at all, may not do so.  It happens.  Lesson learned.

I’ve got a slew of kale to plant out, a new pineapple sage to up-pot, and some mustard greens to find a home for as well.  The new grand-baby should arrive very soon too, if all signs are correct.  I look forward to another new life in the family fold.

Thoughts are turning for me towards what kind of animals I’d like when I build my homestead.  I’ve spent time poring over coop plans, chicken tractors, chicken breeds and information on what types of illnesses to look for,  the most productive dual purpose breeds for both meat and eggs, and all kinds of other stuff.   Some cute finds, if not the most practical!

Bkeees Chicken Tractor from http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bkeees-chicken-tractor

I think this one is my favorite, combining practicality and beauty within its simplicity.

Found at cochickencoops.com

Still dreamin’ although the timeline is way in the future.  Or maybe I should check my lottery ticket?  LOL!

People are like stained – glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Dreaming is good.  Reality is good.  Blending the two is even better.  So live hard, laugh often, and dance like nobody is watching.

~SE