Today

I am warm and cozy and listening to the rain come down..here in the woods it is louder and at the same time quieter than out in the world. A mist is creeping up the path, creating a sense of seperation from the world...

This has been a warm week and sunny. Earlier i had noticed how the fallen trees formed a wall like surround for my place here in the woods. In light of the nice weather, i decided to see if i could expand my place-and so, with the help of a shovel, rake and lots of buckets, all carried in by yours truly-I did just that (much to the amusement of a certain crow who keeps tabs on me)..

I began by clearing dead leaves and branches..decades of detritus or so it felt...and piling it all off to the side of my tiny clearing. The ground under it all was really easy to dig-the shovel sunk right in-and so I dug my new space out. I would guess in total it's about a dozen feet in diameter-I didn't go further than the dead trees roots. I went down just deeper than my knee-frankly it just got too hard to lift the buckets of dirt. Then I began looking through the woods for more downed trees-smaller ones that I could cut or haul back to my clearing. With these, and the "mother" trees, I used the dirt I'd dug to build a small-well, hut doesn't do it justice-and house is too grand a word. Well-a-day, it's just my space, I guess...On Tuesday I noticed a huge piece of plastic/vinyl-it was apparently a swimming pool liner at one time, being sent to the trashman. Although I really didn't want to drag it here-it seemed too good to be true. It is now part of my roof, placed first on top of small limbs, then covered with more, and thatched with tall dried grasses and weeds. Further scrounging found old tin pipe which makes an excellent chimney for my corner fire-pit. I covered the chimney opening on the roof with old metal scraps and old shingles-not pretty, but safer than sorry! As strange as all this sounds, when you are on the little path, you have to know just where to look to see my little place...and so far, I've not even heard any other people in here.

Just today I carried in some things-a beat up old kettle, a big black pot, sleeping bag and pillow. yesterday was an old wooden bookshelf and table (that was 2 trips!). I scrounged for some dired wood for fire, and stacked some more. I think a small ax will be in order! I have made tea, and am delighted to say my little fire place works just fine! I am at home in Ivy's Woods....

The sun is weak and the air is cool as I walk down the path along the edge of the field. Dry grasses rustle and burrs catch on my clothing, but that is nothing. The path narrows a bit and then the woods are in front of me. The air coming from inside the great woods is cooler and damper. It smells of crispness, leaves and thyme. I hurry under the arched oaks and into the darker day. Bird calls echo as tho in a great cathedral, and the trees seem to talk quietly to each other. I feel safe, for the first time today. I do not feel alone here, and I do not fear any inhabitants of Ivy's Woods..I just know that I want to stay...

After a bit of walking, I notice a small clearing off the path. A fallen tree has nestled up against another....within a short time I have made the beginnings of a rough shelter, using just fallen limbs and dried grasses...it is a small, cozy place, a place to hide away in. I am being observed, I notice-a large crow has perched near me and has been watching for some time, sending "caws" throughout the woods. He is very interested in my house building. I throw him some bread scraps, which he picks up gracefully, then goes back to watch...

OCTOBER 12, 2009

The wind is still, the moon is halfway to darkness. The wind shifts about, whispering, always whispering. Crow shakes her dark head and ruffles her feathers against the chill, as she listens to the rustles on the forest floor below. In the distance lights from the nearby village twinkle, dogs bark, bass booming cars cruise on. Here, in her woods, she watches, and wonders. Sometimes she warns, other times she cannot. Destiny is what it is, for us all.

We humans go searching for the mysterious, the spooky, the magical. We forget what we once knew-magic is in the earth, the trees, the air and the water and the fire. Time itself is mysterious-measurable by the clock, but it ebbs and flows, never the same for different people. Our job is to live in the now. to feel the pure energy of time's passages...but during those times we need to rest, we can find that time out of time, in Ivy's Woods...