Glory in being

Monday 14th September, 2020

I continue my 'silent retreat' as a hermit living alone except for a dog, two chickens and a tortoise plus care of 14 sheep. Today has continued to be a day of unwinding, of being, of pacing and slowing my mental and physical actions. I have responsibilities to animals so cannot be entirely fancy free.

Awoke earlier than ever and was coherent and ready to let the chickens out and feed them by 6.20am. I patted the dog on the head and she followed me to the food shed. A half punnet of grain and in to the hen compound, shooing 17 mallards back to the canal. The hens shot out like frustrated rockets and started to eat, bobbing up and down like puppets on a string. The duck sauntered back but I let the hens eat their fill.

As I did so the sun arose. The colour of the sun is stunning changing from red to orange to gold to brilliant light and the sky follows suit. Not a cloud but striata of colours including pinks and mauves and a range of yellows and silvers and blues. It really is an awesome sight.

Back to bed with coffee and book and prayers and meditations and thoughts. Through the unnecessary yet enjoyable routine of emails...some sad news, some lovely and some dynamic.

Then the new routine...walk the dog, taking in the dustbins at the end of the mile long drive, all up hill. The panorama from the top is amazing. The dustcart had not been, so I had to return later to bring in the bin.

I saw the tortoise poking its dinosaurian head out of its box...so I collected dandelions, peeled a cucumber and produced lettuce leaves....she slowly and methodically ate her way through them all. What a relaxing sight, almost like people watching in the cafes of Paris!

Then the making of jelly from the damson, crab apple and blackberry juice prepared yesterday. I had to scrape about for sufficient sugar so granular, soft brown and molasses type all used. Boiled the concoction hard for thirty five minutes testing frequently. Then gave up, sterilised jars and poured the liquid in. Sealed with wax paper and screw lids. They have all set.....I feel so proud and relieved. Yippee.

Fed dog at lunchtime, had a siesta reading Godden, Kalanithi and the biography of Yeats. All thought provoking stuff. Wrote a letter or two but they will not be posted as no post box within six miles. I have no wheels! A local farmer might appear!

Perhaps the strangeness of the day was at 6.35am when a line of over two hundred sheep followed each other at a stout pace down from the top of a field, through two gates to the canal to drink. A truly amazing sight with the sunrise behind. Since then at about 10.15am the farmer on a caddy like motor with two sheep dogs appeared, herded them all and took them off. The field is empty. I hope they have gone to new pastures not an abattoir! I am sentimental and hypocritical as I enjoy lamb and mutton. I am sure, and my hostess affirms it, the farmer is a good and kind and skilled one. My fourteen remaining sheep look smug! I filled their water troughs and fed them a slice of bread...for comforting.

Barges have trotted, stuttered, puttered and ploughed up and down the canal. The sun has been warm and I have sat in it for vitamin D but not for too long. Another lazy day which has felt emotionally, psychologically and spiritually uplifting. How privileged I am.

So Yeats again:

" Leave nothing but the nothings that belong

  To this bare soul, let all men judge as can

    Whether it be an animal or a man "