Posts Tagged ‘labyrinth’
History Open
Today is the first Sunday in May. I can’t count how many first Sundays of the month have passed without me taking advantage of the regularly scheduled open house at my county’s History Society. Today will be different.
On a day when the sun is shining bright in a clear blue sky, we are going to depart from our little sanctuary and drive past the little village of Esdaile (where my Great-Great-Great Grandfather Joseph Sleeper owned a sawmill) beside Isabelle Creek, on our way to the Pierce County Historical Association in Bay City.
It will be my second visit to the main office of the PCHA. When I first discovered that my Great-Great Grandfather Stephen Hays once owned land in Pierce County, I made my way to Bay City to learn more about him.
I discovered so much more than I bargained for that day. Suddenly, it was revealed that three of my ancestral families were living in the area in the 1860s.
Recently, the PCHA announced that local Historian, Mary Beeler had published (at the age of 92) a book about logging and log buildings in early Pierce County. I want to see if there might be more information about Joseph’s mill or Stephen’s wagon-making.
The rain has ended for a day, but the over-saturated ground remains too wet to do much work of substance. A small group of hearty souls stopped by yesterday to walk the labyrinth and enjoy Cyndie’s baked treats in the lingering mist following another half-inch of accumulation.
No other visitors are expected for a while, so I can let the grass grow crazy while waiting for the ground to dry up a little.
I suppose I could pull more weeds out of the gravel loop around the hay shed today, but that’s not as enticing as exploring more local history.
Maybe, in the end, I’ll do a little of both.
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Peace Meditations
’Twas the first Saturday in May
And all through the labyrinth
Plenty of creatures were stirring
Especially the burrowing pests
Today is World Labyrinth Day. Despite the first Saturday of May always arriving too soon for our beautiful growing perennials in the labyrinth garden and the trees surrounding it to have fully blossomed, we still try to tidy it up as much as possible for the annual peace walk at one o’clock.
I had the electric riding mower out and about again yesterday in an attempt to knock down the outrageously tall and thick areas of overgrown grass in multiple places, despite several of them holding puddles of water and most of the soil being too saturated to support the tire traffic.
I had to swallow my pride a couple of times when the spinning wheels turned what had been nice grass turf into wide smears of muddy skid marks. I deemed it tolerable damage in this case, given the difficult situation we were in to get ready on the only day left when it wasn’t raining.
It’s too bad the prediction for this morning is at an 80% chance of more rain. Even if precipitation pauses around the middle of the day, we will likely be walking on the equivalence of wet sponges while meditating for peace on Earth.
The concept of creating a rolling wave of energy around the world by having people participate at 1:00 p.m. in each of their local time zones is an inspired one, in my opinion. I suggest that the practice needn’t be limited to people walking labyrinths. You can do this wherever you are.
At one o’clock [your time] this afternoon, pause for a time and rally your mental energies toward a focus on the possibilities of peace in every form imaginable. Heck, if you are reading this after the appointed hour, go ahead and do the mental exercise anyway. What have we got to lose?
Give Peace a chance.
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Fresh Greening
We’ve survived a few days when the morning temperature teetered around the freezing point with no noticeable damage to new growth sprouting everywhere we look. One of the early above-ground wild plants to show signs of leaves is the black raspberry bushes.
Here’s hoping it will be a good year for the berries.
The grass has gotten bushy enough in spots to warrant mowing. I pulled out the electric push mower to get after the back side of the barn. The ground is not yet firm enough to support the weight of the riding tractor. That exercise went so well, I decided to give the labyrinth a go.
It was my first time walking the labyrinth since the ground thawed. There were many stones pushed sideways and/or toppled by the combination of frost heave and burrowing rodent activity. Mowing was a bit of a hassle. It felt good to finish and move out to the much easier cutting of the area beyond the stones.
I’m expecting the growth of grass blades will pick up dramatically now and I will soon be mowing some section or another almost every single day until we happen to reach a stretch of very dry weather.
Mowing is easy compared to the landscaping project I’ve decided to do myself. The first order of business before improving the grading on each side of the garage will involve sealing cracks that have formed in the concrete blocks. That’s one more thing I have no experience doing but I will shop for materials and then fake it.
The other fresh greening happening is inside on the table in our sunroom where garden plants Cyndie started are bursting out of the dirt with impressive spurts of growth. I suspect they will be transplanted to the great outdoors very soon.
We’ll be eating fresh produce in a blink.
And speaking of things happening in a blink, in just over a week it will be one full year that Asher has been in our family. I think he has accepted us as worthy keepers.
In April, three years ago, the four thoroughbred mares arrived at Wintervale. At the time, we didn’t know if they would stay any longer than the summer grazing season. The fact that we are transitioning them onto green grass again for the fourth year makes it pretty clear we settled into keeping them here year-round. At this point, I dream of them never needing to ride in a trailer again.
It would be great if they would offer their opinion on the subject. I certainly wouldn’t want to keep them here if there was somewhere else they’d rather be.
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Feeling Privileged
Waking to news that a new armed attack has occurred, unprecedented in its scale, between Israel and Palestine is an unsettling start to the day. I cherish every moment that there are no military battles occurring where I live. Logic would reveal that none of us are immune to unrest that can erupt anywhere at any time, but I feel privileged for the decades I’ve lived free of armed conflicts.
There is no comparison to threats to human life but yesterday we came upon a scene of destruction in the labyrinth that shocked us. It’s wild to discover evidence of an incident we hadn’t seen coming.
That tree broke in so many places when it struck the rocks it must have made quite a sound. It surely would have been shocking if we had been nearby when it fell.
Another thing that has me feeling especially privileged is how easily I was able to get flu and COVID-19 booster shots. Last weekend, Cyndie worked the web and found herself an appointment in Red Wing, MN after learning our local clinic did not have stock of the COVID vaccine yet.
Our clinic in River Falls thought they would have more by Thursday or Friday. As I was driving to town yesterday to pick up a battery I had ordered from an auto parts store, I realized I had forgotten to call the clinic. Since it was just down the street from where I was, I decided to just stop and ask in person about the status of their vaccines.
“Yes, we have the vaccines,” the receptionist told me. “Would you like to make an appointment?”
I responded in the affirmative.
“Are you available today?”
Affirmative.
After a minute or two of simple questions and her typing and clicking, she said, “You can take a seat and someone will come for you shortly.”
A few minutes later I had my shots and was back in the lobby for a 15-minute wait to ensure I suffered no allergic reaction.
How come that was so easy? What did I do to earn such royal service? No hoops to jump through, no days of waiting, and no out-of-pocket expenses.
One guess I have is that showing up in person helped to pave the way, but she could have told me any day in the coming week and I would have accepted that.
Whatever it was that contributed to my good luck, I recognize the privilege I enjoy to live where I do and have access to the services readily available to me.
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Long Days
Catching up on daily tasks after more than a week away is a small price to pay for the extended time I was able to relax at the lake, but that doesn’t mean catching up is easy. I’m not saying that it’s hard, but it does tend to require long days when I’m also attempting to watch daily Tour de France races in the morning.
Things will calm down when Cyndie gets home, but there will also then be the added responsibility of caring for Asher when they return. For now, I’m benefiting from our decision to keep him at the lake with Cyndie because none of my time needs to be assigned to his needs.
I successfully created a steaming pile from the week’s-worth of dumped manure our horse sitter collected.
It’s cooking perfectly after just one day of shaping the mess into a composting mound.
After mowing around the barn with the zero-turn lawn tractor, I took care of the labyrinth with the push mower. Then, I cleaned the waterer in the paddocks and fed the horses. Next came the exercise of moving hay bales from the shed into the barn.
Normally, that would have been enough to send me in for a shower, which would allow for dinner at a reasonable hour. Yesterday was not normal, so I got out the diesel tractor and cut the weeds in the paddock with the brush cutter. While I had that tractor out, I also knocked down the portion of growth along the inside of the hay field fence that gets missed when the hay gets cut and baled.
I have wanted that done since the field was cut almost a month ago. Even though that pushed my dinner an hour and a half later than I prefer, the accomplishment was worth it. It becomes one less thing I will need to do today.
That gives me time to watch more bike racing this morning! Yay!
One time-consuming task I am neglecting is berry picking.
I’m hoping they will survive on the vine for a few more days so Cyndie can tackle that project. When I finish cutting all the grass (weeds), I need to complete the trimming of fence lines and then use the hedge cutter to knock back the growth leaning in along our pathways.
While mowing the labyrinth, I noticed the hedge trimmer is needed on the outer circle path where the jungle-like growth from the woods is encroaching on the air space.
It’s no surprise that managing all the growth around here makes for long days. Good thing the place looks gorgeous when I’m all caught up on the mowing and trimming. That makes it all well worth it.
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Drone Views
Despite some gusty winds on Sunday, there was an opportunity to view our property from overhead via a drone. I find this a spectacular variation of our perspective of the immediate surroundings we traverse every day. Much better than simply viewing a dramatically more distant 2-dimensional image from a satellite photo.
Let’s take a little tour, starting at the house…
That’s a lot different view from all the shots of the house we’ve tried taking from down below in the backyard.
Down the hill and through the short corridor of trees we come to the labyrinth.
If you are careful to spot the 180° turns, you can walk the path with your eyes. Imagine the sounds of the breeze in the trees, the calls of songbirds, and maybe the sound of horses grazing in the back pasture.
I was pleased to see the drone didn’t startle the horses but Mix certainly took notice and circled the herd around once for good measure. Then they all went back to grazing.
Back up the hill of the backyard and past the house, we come to the shop and garage.
The amount of equipment squeezed inside is a mystery with the doors closed.
Finally, the drone was steered out for a brief glimpse of the barn before the dwindling battery brought the exercise to a safe conclusion.
The trees are so full of leaves that it made it difficult to capture a low-angle view that revealed the proximity of each feature in relation to the others.
We spent some time trying to fly down one of the paths in the woods but the drone was reluctant to follow commands smoothly due to the detection of nearby trees and low-hanging branches.
It was a thrill for me to watch the process and I treasure the views that we captured. Makes me want to have a jet pack that would let me quickly pop up for a similar view whenever the higher perspective seems warranted.
Maybe Greenworks will come up with a battery-powered one soon.
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Readjustment Required
Four days away was enough to cause a bit of anxiety for Asher upon our return. He seemed happy to see us but he also showed signs of being less confident in himself upon readjusting to the differences in our routine as compared to the sitter’s. I’m guessing Mom and Dad are a little more strict about how things should go and Asher wasn’t quite ready for a return to that.
Tuesday night he spent more time whining in his crate than he did sleeping. Unfortunately, that meant Cyndie and I didn’t get the sleep we wanted, either. Asher rallied yesterday and showed his best self during a visit to the veterinarian for a checkup and some shots. The after-effects lasted a few hours during which he laid low and napped but then all of a sudden he was back to his old self and playing with his usual vigor.
I wish I recovered that quickly when I got my last shots.
The pup officially weighed in at 70 pounds. I’ll take that. It’s ten lbs. less than the unofficial weight we’d been given by the foster mom.
I’m curious to see how he does today in session three of our obedience training class. We are expecting the barriers between dogs to be pulled back which will mean many more distractions during the lessons.
When we got home from the lake on Tuesday, the labyrinth was first on the list for mowing.
The prolonged dry spell hasn’t slowed growth everywhere, particularly in our poison ivy patches. Some areas of lawn grass are turning brown but most others are just growing with less robust energy. Yesterday, I focused on mowing just the areas that grew the most.
I need to readjust to this sudden onset of hot summer weather. It’s the first day of June and we are getting mid-July heat and humidity. It has me wondering what it will be like when we get to July.
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Counting Candles
No, I didn’t actually count them. I did ask one of the staff how many candles and their response was, “A lot!” Last night we met our friends Barb and Mike for dinner at the self-proclaimed “hip, urban venue” Cafe Lurcat next to Loring Park in Minneapolis and then moved to the spectacle in a spectacle of a candlelight concert by a string quartet in St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral.
It looked as fascinating with the lights on as it did with them off, although the warm glow was a better setting for the performance of string quartet music from Bach to The Beatles. It almost felt like I was getting some high culture, except for the welcome casualness of the hostess and performers combined with tunes I actually grew up listening to.
It was nothing short of supremely cool. I am in awe of the musician’s abilities and really grateful that people rally to put on shows like this. Really, that’s a lot of candles.
No candles for us today. World Labyrinth Day has arrived and we’ve got lots of last-minute preparation to finish. Our landscape is soaking wet after multiple dousings yesterday, but if the next round of passing showers could hold off until after 3:00, that would be just great.
Let the wave of peace pass over the world uninterrupted! It’s already rolling along…
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Yes Mow
While I firmly agree with the philosophy of “No Mow May,” for our labyrinth, yesterday was Yes-Mow-April. Even though there was one area that remained surprisingly saturated to the point of being ill-advised, the rest was good and held up well to the inaugural cut of the season.
This is the first time we have been in a position where we could get ahead of the growth before it got out of control and that feels wonderful. The labyrinth is looking the best it has ever looked at this time of year and is just lacking the growth of new shoots and fresh leaves on all the plants to reach its most impressive appearance.
As long as I was doing some mowing, I couldn’t help pulling out my newest addition to our battery-powered landscape management tools, the zero-turn mower. I had already driven the mower around enough to realize it would take me some time to master the nuances of operating the independent drive wheels by separate levers but I had yet to actually cut any grass with it.
I should probably make a sign for the mower that says, “Student Driver.”
Navigation in close quarters, say, along the wall of the barn or beside a fence, is fraught with uncertainty. My hasty reactions to correct my heading tends to be wrong, leading to hapless attempts to counter the mistake with overcorrections that exacerbate the misdirection. Holding anything close to a straight path is a worthy victory for me. It will take time to figure out how the 360° rotation of the front wheels ends up contributing to my difficulty in maneuvering.
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There are some new skid marks in the turf where I struggled to turn around on a slope where the earth beneath the grass was soft and wet. That’s a cost I must bear for being too eager to cut before the ground is truly dry. This year I just seem uncharacteristically eager to get the first mowing done before the grass gets overly tall.
Future occasions will only get better as I gain experience and the ground becomes more firm. At the rate this spring weather is struggling to pull away from winter, firmer ground may not happen for many weeks. I may rely on the trusty push mower to do much of the cutting while the soil beneath the turf remains more like Jello® than normal dirt.
Or, I could simply adhere to the directives of “No Mow May.”
Naaaaah.
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Peaceful Meditations
I had plenty of time to meditate on the gratefulness for a warm bed during a fever yesterday, and the luxury of having Cyndie be able to give me a full day pass from outdoor chores. This morning dawned much friendlier with sunshine replacing the gray skies of the previous wet days.
On Friday afternoon, I laid down on the driveway to capture a view of the precipitation falling that was flirting with the difference between sleet and hail. Today we have the bright sunlight amplifying the increasing green of our fields. You know the philosophy of meditating on what you want in order to manifest desired results?
Mia was showing a Zen-like focus on the acres beyond the paddock fence this morning. Even though it is sunny today, it is way too wet to be walking on our turf, as can be seen in the amount of hoof-traffic abuse the surface inside the paddock is suffering. The poor horses can’t help damaging the very grass they would love to be eating.
Soon, the situation will improve and the horses will peacefully be grazing in the pastures again. And, soon we will be walking the circuitous path of our labyrinth again.
In less than two weeks we will be hosting an event on World Labyrinth Day at Wintervale. My favorite global meditation for peace happens every year on the first Saturday of May as people all over the world create a wave of peaceful energy by participating in their time zone at 1:00 p.m.
World Labyrinth Day at Wintervale
I’m going to visualize May 6th as a beautifully sunny day with the ground dry enough to support foot traffic without becoming a mess. No matter what, it will be a day bursting with love and peaceful vibrations flowing around us from one time zone to the next. Cyndie will bake scones to serve with coffee and we will encourage meditations start before 1:00 and continue well beyond the official hour.
We will already be feeding the meditation of peace before it arrives and continue after the crest rolls away to the west for as long as there are people present to stroll.
If the weather is bad, well, we will make peace with that, too.
You do what ya gotta do.
Peace!
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Relative Something 