Friday, July 27, 2007

Secrets on the Mountain


I felt kinda down today, so I went for some self prescribed nature time. Trees are my spirit animal, heehee. Look at that beauty. Yowza. I knew there would be SOMETHING cool to see, there always is. And just breathing in the scents of leaves and dirt... aaaaaaaah. I can't go hiking and TRY to relax, I have to let nature distract me from my worries. And not only do I feel much better, darned if I didn't see all kinds of nifty stuff too. Like this garter snake. S/he was a fairly little one, maybe 18 inches.

My cats, powerful hunters, didn't even see it, haha. I am too skittish to pick one of these up, ever since the time an alligator lizard bit my finger... and wouldn't let go! Traumatizing! Maybe if I'd had gloves. I did pet it though, far from the head, 'cause I wanted it to move. It wouldn't. It probably hoped the crazy mountain paparazzi would just go away. Finally it moved though, zipping into a hole in a log. At which point Lilly was like, "OMG? What was that?? Sniffity sniff sniff. I pet her, and she jumped about five feet. Ooops heehee. Mean.

Then I wanted to explore somewhere new, so I found the least steep part of the cliff side of the ridge and cautiously headed down. And I found the most magical place, I knew it was my secret place, like in The Education of Little Tree, how every one needs their own quiet nook where time drifts and the zen flows and and you feel the Great Energy, or god, or whatever it is.
I felt like I could just sit there forever and become part of the mountain. Except then my kitties heard something. They're my indicators, right? Mostly when they hear something and get all attentive, it's a bird, or a leaf, or a fly. It's when all THREE look that my armpits dampen, the adrenaline surges, and the zen goes right out the window. My mouth dries up and I swallow roughly. I cup my hands to my ears in a feeble attempt to enhance my puny human hearing. No good. I remember the story of a woman who was attacked by a mountain lion when jogging alone, and she somehow fought it off with a lucky pocket knife shot to the eye. How rangers found it later, dead from the wound (I still think poor thing, BAD me). And I plan to stand up as ginormously threatening as I can and roar with beastial fury at any cougars that dare eyeball my meaty thighs. RARR! Then, there is movement in the leaves to my right. Just as my stomach drops and practically rolls down the cliff, Pheonix pounces!! Yes. It was a bug. A really gross looking inch long bug thing. Mmmm hmmm. I RULE! I figured it was time to head home.
On the way back, I found this log in the path. It had fallen sometime during my futile listening for boogeymen. I guess if a tree falls, Hermitgrrl doesn't hear it. I threw my foot in there for scale refrence. It WAS a log, sheesh! So I wear size ten, and my feet DWARF LOGS. I LIKE my feet... even if it's annoying finding shoes with which to clad them. And yes, sketchers are totally approved hiking footwear, you didn't know that? Okay, I have boots, sometimes I just can't be bothered :P. Anyway, to make a short story long, my chakras are now realigned. My boat is floating. Huzzah for nature! (Except if it wants to eat me. Scary-ass bug.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way to go Hermitgirl - finding the zen of the mountains, realigning your chakras, and slaying your fear of the scary-ass bug. Sounds like a productive outing. (Not to mention the way-cool photos.)

I looked for you on Alba this afternoon. It was very hot when I started up the hill. Even though I missed seeing you, I was glad that you weren't still out there.

Have a restful Sunday.

L,
D

Anonymous said...

that blog was 2 fn egg hilarious!!!!!!!!!!! you a great writer... i did a yard walk thurs "putting the sun to bed" as it were, just wonderous and glorius and devine, very nice living next to a forest even if it is a little sparce at the moment..... we saw a wolf the other day... first one of those, only thing left to see is a bear....

love you!!!!!!!!!!!! mom