This big mama was laying right in our garden two days ago. So far, we think we have four or five clutches, not including one that a skunk took. Seems that the smell of the mulch helps to prevent them from finding the others (I hope)!
May29
Category Archives: horses, dogs & more
May20
Jules
Last night we lost our beautiful Jules. He was diagnosed one week ago with an osteosarcoma in his front left wrist. We thought we had more time. But last night the leg shattered and the screams echoed through the whole valley.
We were blessed that he could die at home, surrounded by his family and even his other mother, Bimala was there via Facetime from Korea. The love of his life, Guinnie, was by his side the whole time.
Jules had a sweetness and innocence that you would not guess from his 90 pound body, his fierce racing tears around the pen and his big, deep bark. He was a major racer, retiring at 41/2, which is a long career in the greyhound world. But he was a tender boy, a honey boy, and my most favorite thing was to lie with his back pressed into my front. That was my way of earthing. I was not the only one.
Last night, his death brought in a roiling, muscling storm – wild slicing lightening, blasting thunder and winds that tore the rest of the lilacs from their stems. This morning, the wind is there and so is a deep burgundy iris, the first of the season. Jules.
This morning, before I was awake, a hummingbird fluttered outside Pam’s study window, darting here and there and then staring at her intently through the glass. Jules.
Jules – always beloved, always present, always in our hearts. Thank you beautiful boy.
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Apr11
the beast you are
This is Georgia O”Keefe’s cow. Can you see/feel the tongue, the big eye of her cow and your own at the same time? Try it.
What interests me is awakening to the animal in myself and in others. Being an animal among animals. What I mean by that is a sensing, feeling awareness that is about presence, resonance and attunement — feeling into each other in a cellular, neuroceptive way, rather than at the level of personality and reactivity.
It also means actively cultivating my herdness, not being too special, and finding our how others in my herd smell and move. Not thinking about it too much, but feeling it a lot. I am talking about opening.
That takes practice and also a kind of unstylish courage. Right now I am looking out at our friend Carlos who is doing some repairs on our heating system. Carlos is a big man with a wonderful dense, stocky physicality. If he were in my herd (and he is) I would feel good grazing near him, keeping him in my peripheral vision because he is so nicely connected to the earth – a warm, safe presence. More of that, please.
How to do it? Be quiet. Stop talking. Stop thinking about and start feeling into. Begin with breathing. Don’t just look at, but let it – the tree, the bird, the dog, the man the woman – step into you. Join, even for a moment.
Tell me what happens.
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Feb5
succorance
Succorance is the word of the day from Dictionary.com. It means the act of seeking out affectionate care and social support. That is what we were doing three months ago when we adopted Sadie Mae, a Sato dog from Dead Dog Beach in Puerto Rico. We did this in the deep grieving wake of the death of our beloved Jack Russell Terrier, Liam. Here is Laila finding that same succorance from Liam last summer.
Here are a few of the Sato Project dogs that are available now. Sadie is not Liam. Sadie is wonderfully herself, learning how to feel safe, what it is to be loved, to be part of our complicated,big interspecies family. We would do this again in a heartbeat.
When we nourish another, we nourish ourselves. My practice with all the animals in my life is to feel how much they are touching me when I am touching them. How each moment is an exchange, an offering of that “affectionate care and social support” flowing in both directions.