notes and thoughts from an impromptu journey to my northern california home.
when we arrived at my folks house, (quiet and dark since they've been on the east coast for months) i was half delighted, half horrified to find that the sliding glass door was surrounded by the defensive web of a very territorial black widow spider. two feet high, and four feet long, filled with the debris of leftover dinners. trailers going up to the rafters of the patio roof...and one very lovely, dark, shiny, and LARGE spidey lady in the center. as she sensed our approach, she shimmied up her rope ladder to the ceiling above...to her TWO PLUMP EGGSACKS. intercepting my dog and pulling him aside, i implored her,
"beautiful lady, thank you for guarding our home and keeping it safe. you know i've respected your kind for years, and we have our agreement...i don't hurt you, you don't hurt me. but your wondrous web and eggsacks are in a very precarious position...even if i don't hurt you, the next person who comes along will not have as much respect...not only will your web be wiped clean, but so will your life and that of your numerous offspring.
tommorow i will be clearing your web off the ground, but i will leave what is above me safe. please move your base camp a few feet down, near the chimney...for your sake, and mine. thank you."
the next morning, the black widow, and her two eggsacks, were gone. 6 feet away, under the eaves, she was making a new home.
we spent an iincredible, full day, at the hot springs in big bend. hot sun, perfect river, floating downstream on our little water rafts, my dog leo running along beside us, occasionally getting lost, and sometimes going for the unanticipated swim. we startled a mother duck and her adolescent children, were guided by a water snake, serenaded by eagles overhead, and awestruck when the creek hit pit river, and the roar overtook our ears...and our rafts! so hard to be immersed in wilderness, and to know that i have chosen to live in an urban world...which so pales in comparison...
so good to be surrounded by the community i grew up in...earthy, simple, conservative, and oh so whitetrashy. the local classic rock station kept us company on our journeys from here to there, the game being, "name that random 80's hair band"..."is that def lepperd? oh shit! it is! love bites!"
no matter where we went this weekend, my path was littered with feathers...messages from the universe..."here you go...get ready...are you ready to shift? to strip down? to rebirth? your life is about to C-H-A-N-G-E."
and on the sleepy early morning drive home, a coyote running through the field off to our right...locking eyes briefly...and i know i have to be ready for anything...and it won't be what i expect.
this sunday i leave for so. carolina. and when i come back, i begin my first semester of graduate school.
ready. steady. go!
when we arrived at my folks house, (quiet and dark since they've been on the east coast for months) i was half delighted, half horrified to find that the sliding glass door was surrounded by the defensive web of a very territorial black widow spider. two feet high, and four feet long, filled with the debris of leftover dinners. trailers going up to the rafters of the patio roof...and one very lovely, dark, shiny, and LARGE spidey lady in the center. as she sensed our approach, she shimmied up her rope ladder to the ceiling above...to her TWO PLUMP EGGSACKS. intercepting my dog and pulling him aside, i implored her,
"beautiful lady, thank you for guarding our home and keeping it safe. you know i've respected your kind for years, and we have our agreement...i don't hurt you, you don't hurt me. but your wondrous web and eggsacks are in a very precarious position...even if i don't hurt you, the next person who comes along will not have as much respect...not only will your web be wiped clean, but so will your life and that of your numerous offspring.
tommorow i will be clearing your web off the ground, but i will leave what is above me safe. please move your base camp a few feet down, near the chimney...for your sake, and mine. thank you."
the next morning, the black widow, and her two eggsacks, were gone. 6 feet away, under the eaves, she was making a new home.
we spent an iincredible, full day, at the hot springs in big bend. hot sun, perfect river, floating downstream on our little water rafts, my dog leo running along beside us, occasionally getting lost, and sometimes going for the unanticipated swim. we startled a mother duck and her adolescent children, were guided by a water snake, serenaded by eagles overhead, and awestruck when the creek hit pit river, and the roar overtook our ears...and our rafts! so hard to be immersed in wilderness, and to know that i have chosen to live in an urban world...which so pales in comparison...
so good to be surrounded by the community i grew up in...earthy, simple, conservative, and oh so whitetrashy. the local classic rock station kept us company on our journeys from here to there, the game being, "name that random 80's hair band"..."is that def lepperd? oh shit! it is! love bites!"
no matter where we went this weekend, my path was littered with feathers...messages from the universe..."here you go...get ready...are you ready to shift? to strip down? to rebirth? your life is about to C-H-A-N-G-E."
and on the sleepy early morning drive home, a coyote running through the field off to our right...locking eyes briefly...and i know i have to be ready for anything...and it won't be what i expect.
this sunday i leave for so. carolina. and when i come back, i begin my first semester of graduate school.
ready. steady. go!
VIEW 27 of 27 COMMENTS
Thanks for the moment of abandon.