My first morning at Menla. Woken by rain with the sunrise. Slept pretty well I guess, except the dream where Sugar visited me. She was jogging toward me as if I called her. I could smell her fur. I was so excited... then it seemed impossible she be here & she was gone. I guess she was paying me a visit. Just saying hello.
I have a bit of dusting to do in my space, but all in all it's not a bad place to live. Closets, desk, lamps, windows, wood beams, & a door to make it mine. They say it's the best staff lodging here. Lucky me. I'm important, being the gardener, and they want to treat me well. Much appreciated.
I only glimpsed my garden space while driving. It seemed... not level. But I'll wait until I walk it before thinking anymore about it. Today at noon I'll meet the chef to talk herbs and veges. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll assemble the greenhouse.
The rain has lessened as I put down a plastic bag to sit on. Protect my butt from the puddle on the white plastic lawn chair. As soon as I sit I spot a gray squirrel, a morning dove, and two deer. What a way to wake! There's a saucer full of corn & seeds set at the corner of the railing on the deck. Chickadees, juncos, titmouse, chipmunks, and squirrels come within 5 feet of me to feed. (Sugar would have loved it here!) Then they post up in the neighboring branches. Eat. Sing. And dive back down & snatch another seed. This is how they spend their mornings.
I can hear the river below.
I can see now that there is a pair of doves. They enjoy the fallen seed on the ground. When I was a kid, in THV, my bedroom window looked out from a corner where a couple of pines grew. All growing up I thought the cooing doves were an owl & that he was also my alarm clock.
It's wonderfully cool right now. Hoodie ans flip-flops.
Though today id cloudy, the sky is high up over the surrounding 'mountains'. Story is that Panther Mountain and his friends used to be a plateau, nit the rounded peaks they are today. The valleys were cut by water, not from the force of the earth forcing them up all jagged and rocky. My views from the deck are framed and made up of naked trees, all seeming foreign to me. Only able to read their bark and buds, if they're actually swelling this early in the spring. New friends to make. Learn the language of this hardwood dominated eastern woods.
They gave me a carebox of food. Looks like it was put together by a mom... cereal, PB & J, whole bread, oils, tamari, lentils, spring greens, etc. But best of all coffee, sugar, tea, and almond milk. My fears of being the 'bad one on campus' are quashed. Everyone's just like evryone else, everywhere else. Except maybe better because they seem to function with an understanding that we can all work at whatever pace feels comfortable to make this place run. In theory it sounds good. For myself, I am in no short of work ethic. As I write this a deep roar is coming from the north, from over the hill, seeming at first like an airplane. But it's not, it's the wind pushing through the bare woods. Powerful and magnificent are two great words to describe it.
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