7 AM. It's 22 out there. The hose was frozen. The animals needed water. I got it to work. I just had to break a chunk of ice loose up by the faucet.
The little bit of snow we got Saturday evening hasn't melted. I thought it would.
I started pulling flags in the front meadow yesterday. They marked the plants we put in throughout the planting season. They pulled easily. The ground not too frozen.
The meadow makes my soul come alive.
I found this quote by Thomas Moore this morning. His writing has always spoke to me.
"When soul is present, nature is alive."
It's been weeks since I've worked in the meadow. I run through it most days. Running through it isn't enough though. Working in it reorients me.
Part of me feels like I shouldn't be saying this. Native plant gardening isn't exactly a male thing to do.
Yet I can't deny my experience. When I was working in the woods logging, nature wasn't alive. Soul was not present. To a certain degree it was soulless. I of course couldn't have said it this clearly then.
More and more I think about the presence of Soul.
After I put logging behind me in my early 20's, and read Daniel Quinn, I started buying field guides. Shelves and shelves of them. The local bookstore owner once commented that she never had a customer buy so many field guides
Wonder was awakened.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying a logger's soul can't be present. I'm just telling you what I experienced.
I talked with a logger yesterday. He told me how his son quit talking after he turned 20. They learned that his autism worsened. He said it really bothers him as a father to see this.
I just listened and asked a few questions about autism because I don't know much about it. What else could I do.
Soul was present. I wanted to do more. Hopefully listening was enough. I wanted to talk about vaccines as being a possible cause, but I didn't. I'm not a doctor or scientist. The damage has been done. The neighborly thing to do was just listen.
Another meandering mind post concluded. I'm off to work in the meadow on my second day off.
I hope you have a great day!
11.10.25
