this jar of Manzanita twigs and leaves. For a couple months now. Was going to empty it out this morning. Nothing had come from it, i thought. Why? Don't know. Maybe time of year. But i put my hand in to stir it up and there was a piece of cloth in the bottom...just cotton, and is the EXACT color of the earth here. EXACT. So i have taken the plunge and wrapped Mo's pennant, tied it and set it in. Maybe. Maybe not. But i have done it. Wait now, grace, i say. Wait now.
son and his family didn't arrive till late yesterday and went directly to the AirBnB. They'd been camping a week in Yosemite and wanted a shower and washing machine. But this morning they arrived. The girl, Giana Lily, who i wanted to name Alluvial Fan, doesn't remember me. She just turned 5. She watches me closely, listens intently to my responses to her offered information....an example of which: Do you like jelly sandwiches? me: i do. sometimes i have one every day. with peanutbutter. She: i don't like peanutbutter. I like Nutella. Me: this is good to know. Forever now, i will have a jar of Nutella for you and a jar of peanut butter for me. What kind of jelly do you like? Her: strawberry. Me: me too. so that 's easy. The deal is sealed, me and her.
As we walk up the Hill, the Goats attend, Tay runs, circling and soon Talkie the Chicken comes. We are like a movie. I take them on a winding tour, all over the Hill, and realize i have so much to tell. But the Star of it all is Puppie. His woman is a cat person and is fascinated by The Pup.....who seems to be everywhere, all at the same time. Giana now and then exclaming...there is another one!, but it's just Puppie. Accompanying every step. Sometimes Above, flying branch to branch of trees, sometimes catapulting out from the brush just ahead of us. At one point, as we were looking out over the Meadow, she was there, hunched, crouched and then took off with the speed of lightning like a cheetah in the African veldt. and son's woman, seeing this said something i will forever love. "Watching her is like knowing what animals really are, before domestication. Their true selves".
