It's a good thing      that circumstance has not allowed me to name things.  i change too much.  Naming changes for me.  Tonight, just now, really, i was out watering the tomato plants and as she does, Magic caught my attention.  She  was standing off to the side.  Everyone else was wolfing down the Kochia i'd thrown in, but she was just watching.  Near the gate.  So, i spoke to her in quiet sounds, not to attract the attention of the others and she came…because she

notices things.

and i let her out.  And there she flew and spun and twirled and whirled and flew and spun.  The dogs ran with her.  She led them.   Until her mother came to the fence and said something and she spoke back and i captured her and let her back in where she and everyone else pretended nothing at all unusual had happened.

so…i am thinking a lot, almost constantly, about that thing of Kas Limaal that i found in Lierre Keith's book…The Vegetarian Myth.  Food Justice and Sustainability

Kas Limaal, a concept given to her from a Mayan Elder.  " Mutual indebtedness, mutual insparkedness.  the knowledge that every animal, plant, person, wind and season is indebted to the fruit of everything else"

and i would change this little goat's name.  Tonight her name is Kas Limaal.  (but she answers to Magic)

001fix
my friend Jane will be here Tuesday.  From Alaska.  Tuesday to Friday.  my daughter Jenny will be here.  Tuesday through Thursday.  my history and my present all in one place.  Jane and i have been friends since we were 16 and 17.  we were close by when our children were young.  we have kept close, all the years since, even though seperated by long distances.    So,  to have my  "before" and my "now" all within the same days will be Something.  My guess is that we won't probably do this again.   And there has been the urge to kind of..uhhh, spruce up.  I'd had plans to repaint the bathroom, finally tile the kitchen floor.  Things like that.  Just the Usual that regular people do.  But…what has happened instead is that i worked on the Noragi and then,  knew i would at least need to Look at cloth,  spent considerable time pinning things on the wall.  Standing.  Looking. 

And i brought the fold up bed in from the Albatros shed.  moved things around in the ROOM.  and in doing this, i realized that i very much could use a

cloth

for company.   I don't normally Have company.  But here i am.   and then in July and then in September,  the not quite 3 year old SunnyDay/DarkNight (Julian) greatgrandson will use this bed. So, hey ho.

 

 

 

 

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19 responses to “a good thing.”

  1. Nancy Avatar

    Have a wonderful time embracing your people. It looks very welcoming at your place 🙂

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  2. elizabeth fortes Avatar
    elizabeth fortes

    I was a planning to write something like what is written above, by Nancy. Ditto!
    Have a wonderful time with all your dear ones. You have Magic! and much love, e.

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  3. jude Avatar

    for me, naming changes too. a way to catch change actually.

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  4. Hoola Tallulah Avatar

    Decorating is over rated, this space has spirit, I think that’s more important. I learned this from the country living French, who (contrary to popular belief) only re-decorate when the existing decor is damaged beyond repair. I like that.
    I also like the repairs to your hooded jacket, am thinking I need to do some boro mending too…

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  5. saskia Avatar

    agree with the above: it looks so inviting and welcoming, I would happily sleep & stay there (and maybe in my mind I will); enjoy the time together

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  6. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    hmmmmm; Magic is alive, Magic is Afoot….as Leonard Cohen wrote, and Buffy Sainte-Marie sang.
    I love the image in my head of Magic running around your garden/land leading the dogs. Nice! I used to have dogs…all dead now. But I keep my 3 cats in good order.
    And was reminded at the Solstice that ‘I am not alone’ although I no longer live with anyone (which is a recent thing, and has been very traumatic, though not because they died). I was nudged…that I share my life with my 3 beautiful cats…..the frogs and toad/s; and all the growing things in the garden; trees, flowers, herbs, and everything else. In a world which emphasises the human relationships we have, it’s easy to forget that we have relationships with other living things. Some physically present; some less tangible. When I sit in my garden now, I am more conscious of those other living things. Your Magic expressed that to me in your post.
    Best wishes
    Jan (Yorkshire, England, still!)

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  7. Mo'a Avatar

    What a beautiful image you have given us of Magic…Magical indeed. In most of the Scandinavian countries, we wait to give our children names until we find one that fits them.
    Your friend will be very cozy in the space you have made for her. Have a wonderful week.

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  8. grace Forrest Avatar

    welcoming it is….In It’s Way.
    the really Only time i do stuff to/with the house is when
    someone is Coming. Otherwise, i have a great gift of
    not noticing. OR, noticing, but then choosing to
    stitch. things need to happen. just up keep. so, it’s
    good when i am
    pushed
    toward that. this afternoon i re tiled the bathroom. just those sticky one foot by one foot things. BUT, they
    will DO till i seem to know if i’m staying here or not.
    or…for how long. such a big Question.

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  9. grace Forrest Avatar

    e…THANKS for your ditto.
    it will be Fine. just a short time, really, then back
    to the way we are here.
    and Magic, yes. she is coming to really be someone to
    reckon with. i look forward to that.

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  10. grace Forrest Avatar

    i think., yes. to catch something. to catch a sense of
    something. right now, she carries both names and
    carries them well.
    i’m going to see if she might like a raisen tomorrow.

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  11. grace Forrest Avatar

    T… yes. we do have Spirit of a sort here, for sure.
    maybe i am a little French too. i DID re tile the bathroom floor. it was not beyond repair, but was uhhh,
    icky. so much here is like catch 22. before the bathroom floor Really changes, the bathtub needs to be pulled and
    reoriented and before that happens, the leak in the
    pipes needs to be fixed ad nauseum. all dependant on
    something else. this is why my daughter thinks it is the
    wise thing to Begin Again. but,….
    if i am leaving this place in the not too distant future…
    then…what makes sense to mend and what does not?
    the hoodie is easier. Boro mending is soul mending.
    xo

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    i wish you could. we would have a lot to share. This i know.

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar

    “in good order”. i like that. like those words, the
    image they gave me. yes.
    and…alone is an interesting thing. when we are busy
    in Relationships with others, there often is not as much
    Open ness to realize the things you mention above. When
    we are alone suddenly, all that can become available to us as It Has Always Been but we just had no
    Need? to notice, or no time or what??????
    thank you for coming so far from Yorkshire, England….
    somehow i just never stop loving that…the connections…

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  14. grace Forrest Avatar

    Waiting…then, this is Good. i know that in some cultures the waiting takes even 3 years because so many
    children do not make it that long.
    for me…i probably would change my own name over and over. one of my all time favorites is As Is. Asis.
    i really like that one.
    for a while once, i like Aphid.
    xoxo

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  15. Deb G Avatar

    Thinking about how naming is a matter of convenience. And naming can be a way of defining our world. Have a wonderful visit…

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  16. Nancy Avatar

    Elizabeth- I love that you say “ditto”…I love that word, used it excessively in high school! 🙂

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  17. handstories Avatar

    how lovely it would be to sleep beneath that cloth.
    wishing you happy days with those you love.

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  18. dee Avatar

    I, too, have a great gift for not noticing mess… or to be more honest (I live with two teen-aged boys and my husband and an eight yr old Corgi named Jack) of noticing my mess in a much more forgiving light than I notice THEIR mess… we joke that it is important to host company at least once a season because it’s the only thing that really gets me to clean up… but here’s what I am grabbed by reading your words and looking at that picture (of that room!!!)… that room feels sooooooooo exquisitely alive… so wonderfully arranged with tone and meaning, that it is hard for me to imagine it deficient in any way! I hope having your bookend company is delightful and easeful… it will certainly be a contrast to living with the animals, only!

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  19. jacky Avatar
    jacky

    It’s nice to have that little ‘spruce up’ before visitors arrive, to set things up in a welcoming way. Such a beautiful room, very earthy and welcoming.
    Such an exciting room, the sculptures, the baskets, the bird and your wonderful cloths. I would love to stay in that room.
    I could see little Magic, quietly in her enclosure…the free….running, skipping, jumping with her friends. You described it all so beautifully Grace.
    I am not a good housekeeper…I find it too easy to sit and stitch, or paint, or visit my friends on the internet and let the housework wait. I do ‘notice’, but I have different priorities. That is….until someone is coming to visit!!!! Like Dee, I need to have visitors more often to make me get things done.
    I love visiting homes that welcoming and full of wonderful bits and pieces of that persons life. A home where you can tell what that person loves. Just like your beautiful home Grace.
    Jacky xox

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