More thoughts in the time of COVID-19 …
Semi-winter is here. Cold but not much snow. That’s probably due to the drought condition of most of California. No precipitation, at least not enough to do much good. There has been some snow on the Mountain, but I remember years when She was completely white by the first week in November. Here it is only days from Winter Solstice and there is bare earth here as well as on the Mountain. What that means for next year’s fire season is anybody’s guess.
People are beginning to understand and doing a lot of clearing preparation. Mark has been busy here, and a trip into town shows me a big change in the looks of the forest. Trees have been thinned and trimmed up to six or seven feet from the ground. There are slash piles everywhere waiting for burn weather and/or chipping.
It looks weird to see areas where at one time being able to see more than a few feet into the trees was unusual. Not any more.
When we do get a bit of snow, everyone rejoices.
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Tyler’s wish to again be his own man will be realized by the first of the year. He will be moving into a place of his own without the feeling of his father and grandmother always aware. Through a friend at the Humane Society where he works, he found a lady who needs someone in the apartment attached to her house. Her first requirement was no pets (interesting because of the Humane Society connection), but after meeting Tyler’s furry kids, she changed her mind and will allow part of the yard to be prepared for Gypsy and Rus. Tyler will be helping with the yard work and minor household repairs as part of the rent.
It would appear to be a good deal for everyone.
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Mark’s family used to do a faux Christmas tree back east. George and I always cut a tree off the property. This year, what with fire prevention clearing, there aren’t any proper trees for cutting here. So they ordered one off the internet before Thanksgiving. It has yet to arrive.
A friend of Kamille’s mentioned she had a tree in her yard which had to come out. We now have a six foot fir in the living room.
The decoration boxes came out last sunday and it was fun watching Paul pick an ornament and tell us what was happening the year it was added to the tree … the angel on top is one I made the year Mark was born, another was the first year here in Mt Shasta, etc.
Nostalgia reigned.
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Current reading is a book characterized as a cross between Outlander and The Mists of Avalon. It is titled The Lost Queen and is set in the area just north of Hadrian’s Wall, between Scotland and England, in the 5th century before Arthur the King became legend.
I’ve been a King Arthur fan for a long time (knowing Geoffrey Ashe, the authority on Arthur, probably helped foster that interest).
The book is well written and one of those just-one-more-chapter books.
The next on the reading list is a return to Victorian San Francisco. The to-watch list is topped by the new Sophia Loren movie, directed by her son, and the new Merle Streep.
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Mark has been busy-busy putting together a film to be shown in place of the COVID-cancelled Christmas Eve service. He’s been recording vocals and readings by various church members to be shown on the St Barnabas YouTube site on Christmas Eve.
Mark has a lovely tenor voice and we are told he also has perfect pitch. Back in ‘97, when he was shot in the throat, I remember the fear he would not speak, let alone sing, again. Now I remember last December sitting beside him in church listening to him Rejoice, Rejoice … Emmanuel will come to ye oh Israel.
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And another big change … I am no longer on the Board of the local landowners’ association. My choice. So you won’t be bothered with things pertinent to just this area any longer. And I won’t be trying to do things to help people who think they deserve being helped without the need to become involved.
Oh well …
There is a final song. A song of endings. It’s not sad. It simply is. It is simply seeing beyond … bidding farewell to the path you have been walking and welcoming the path ahead.
… paraphrased from “Follow the Crow” by B.B.Griffith
So … ‘til next week …