so…these last days, including last night AGAIN and on into half a day to day of RAIN,  are challenging.  and as i listened to the rain pouring down on us from the "sky",  i had thoughts.  and Beth said something about Endurance.  was that her word?  close anyway.  and again, i had thoughts.  and

it made me wonder, as in "lets Re View"…..am i a glass half full person? or a glass half empty.  really.

in the last years, when things get hard for whatever reason,  i always find self going to other places in this world that help me see that my own perceived hardship is what it is, but many others are bent under many many kinds of hardship.  an easy one right now is the women refugees from Syria.  their children in hand, walking, with one bag of belongings to Somewhere,  most likely where they are not really welcome.  so.  How do my puddles compare?, this family of Goats i belong to. ?.  Not so much, right?  right.  and i remember being brought up by my mother who had little to offer on the glass half full side.  but she told the parable over and over about the man with no feet.  you all probably know that.  but i was whining once in junior high school about needing a certain kind of shoe for a school dance and she repeated it again.  about feeling bad, having not the proper shoes until seeing the man with no feet.  or something like that, which she applied to various kinds of whining and i would feel angry at her because i felt like she was suggesting that my own feeling, whatever they were, were unimportant.  that she was wanting me to DENY my own experience.  but it stuck.  that Image.

my daughter, Jenny, had most of this herd of Goats for going on 3 years.  She put her Heart and Soul into them.  Into learning and then following through to improve this herd, to make it the best Dairy herd she could as she went along.  there were hard things.  the dogs that attacked and stole the new born kid.  the next night returning and SnowBunny, who you see here today, defending the herd and being so wounded and torn.  Jenny caring for her for weeks in what the Vet said was a lost cause.  but again,  SnowBunny is here.  scratching her ears, neck and chest, you can feel the scars.  but she's here.  and she is SnowBunny.  the Matriarch.  She and her daughter Ona and granddaughter Onday run this herd.  and so.

then, Circumstance.  and now they are all HERE, until Jenny can take them again.  if that is how it goes.  and who knows.  but it won't be for a while.  a year?  2?  and we are all here, Now.   these are the days we have.  days we are Alive.

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that's SnowBunny, standing.

 

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and while taking these, i notice that in the Oasis, the Side Oat Grama, a prized Native Grass, has flourished.

 

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and too,  a native Aster seeded and multiplied.

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and i'd forgotten.  out by the back gate is a small pile of gravel from when they used it to put in the posts for the fence.  i can haul that for Time Being to shore up the Shelters some.  Enough.  

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and i made a plan.  no need to worry about all the puddles.  all that's needed is a Path.  Goats love Paths.  they go this way already, it's the high ground.  so.  bring the wheelbarrow around and haul that gravel to fortify.  and i look and have been seeing an extension on the little back porch.  do that.  they love to pile up on there when it's not raining.  it's where they sleep.  and, really, it's not ever raining much here.  in the Cold Months,  there's not a lot of Snow.  or any.  so…extend the porch.  i can do that myself.  and make that Path.  i can do that myself too.  OK.  some things tho are hard with just one.

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so i'll put this up at the Grocery Store.  i wrote…a woman/girl.  i am thinking about that.  maybe i shouldn't say that.  ????  who knows.  maybe there is some very good young man?   haven't decided yet.  but you need to ask for what you need., for sure.

and about endurance.  about Just Going.  i wrote a little while ago about waking to the question of what would be more uhhhh,  worthwhile to be doing?  or,  what i would Rather be doing?   and again, today,  the answer is This is Good.  if i wasn't doing This, maybe, yes., i would have more time for Cloth Making.  but then,  the Cloth Making, those stories, are about Life.  and  you need a life to talk about life, yes???   and there is always the sense that the Cloth Making is FOR me.  this thing with the Goats is about All of It.

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and up there in the Circle of Day is the beginning of Crow.  as far as i got.  today.

 

 

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31 responses to “198 which? half full? or half empty?”

  1. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Endurance, sometimes it just means steady as she goes, each day. You got plenty far both in plans, understanding more each day the lives of your goats and your life with them and with the cloth. Asking the questions that you do at times has a way of giving that much needed pause, that moment of recognition, or consideration or understanding life…Half full, half empty, I don’t do that as much as I used to when I was younger. With the exception of the months when I am away with grandchildren, the thing for me is to just do what needs doing for the day, just the one day, most of the time, going beyond what was planned, other times, falling short but knowing that there is always the next day. I try to stay centered to what presents itself but then, it is a simple and profoundly quiet life that I lead even with the many changes of addresses that I have had. It helps to have a partner of many, many years. We have a rhythm that moves our days whether we go about them collectively or singularly…

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  2. grace Avatar
    grace

    i think the Thing is about Partner for me in the moment.
    I just went out, to see what they were choosing to do about
    the night. They remembered their shelter place as being very wet this morning. but i had added the two bales of straw.
    Now, it’s dry. 5 were on the porch. the rest, standing, looking. so i took the flashlight and ran along that
    Path strip, calling…Come Come as Jenny taught me. Come Come in a light and optimistic voice and
    They Came.
    All
    running on their goaty legs
    and they looked and came in to under the Shelter, to the
    new dry straw, but then Magic had a different thought and she left and went back and they all decided maybe she was right and went behind her.
    so i left them to their own devices and who knows? but
    my “partner” is Them. and it’s an interesting partnership.

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  3. grace Avatar
    grace

    and i guess i have a question for you. what would YOU do
    if you found yourself with 19 Goats?

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  4. beth Avatar

    Thank you for this… I have to say that I made that comment from a low moment. A tired moment. The glass is half full, but every once in a while I knock it over and then it has to be mopped up and trickled back in. Sometimes the just going feels like climbing a mountain–but it is not. Not really. I have feet and plenty enough and much freedom with both of those. But I get tired. And although you have said you are doing just what you want to, I can’t help thinking that this was thrust upon you–not really what you chose for yourself. And it seems awfully open ended. Are they your goats? Or are you filling in temporarily? You are having to make some hard decisions. It certainly has changed the focus of your life. But all in all, I really love that you are willing to do this.

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  5. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Goats are surely great partners…in their very special goaty way…I love the thinking about half full and half empty…always a good reality check there. What will be will be…and nothing was ever promised, and whether hell or paradise is what we perceive, it’s not an either or but a this and that. I think we all love these goats like you do…just from watching you watch them, see them and understand them. Its co-evolution of the highest order.

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  6. Mo Crow Avatar

    I have this feeling that there is going to come a day when the whole herd will decide that they have to have a look ’round inside your house and Grace please you have to take a photo of that before you work out what to do next!

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  7. patricia Avatar

    wow. first impressions. fourth image–with the tree reflected in the water. both are images of trees. is one more real than the other? second impression. the plan for the path–the plan on paper–a possible solution for goats and a possible image for cloth–the path, a way through this–this “path plan” seems huge to me. an opening on many levels. and the third–the help wanted poster. the knowing when to ask for help. the wisdom of that.
    and then the question–1/2 empty, 1/2 full? and your comments “the Cloth Making is FOR me. this thing with the Goats is about All of It.” the question and the observation–you’ve asked and answered it so clearly–that they are all just parts of the same thing. the one thing. and really can’t be separated. goats and cloth: metaphor for LIFE its ownself. and here you are putting one foot in front of the other– tending to the moment. doing it.
    i honor and support you in this– so much–this modelling of perseverance, honesty, courage, and love for what is–the showing of how it is done with big heart and big love– and the generosity of sharing it all. much love xo

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  8. Martine Avatar

    you need a life to talk about life, yes???
    and you certainly have one Grace….may be hard sometimes but always interesting…..
    XXXm

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  9. Sharon Tomlinson Avatar

    Mo Crow, what a great visual. I smiled out loud. In an earlier comment I thought about 19 goats on Grace’s back porch.

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  10. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Simply, I would not keep them, especially not at my age now. The energy required to keep them well and going is more than I would have plus I have had very little experience with taking care of many animals.

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  11. yvette Avatar

    me too Sharon and Mo
    goats are not cats and dogs but when i was alone years ago my bed was full with 3cats and 2dogs there is a point when you are one of the herd ( in my case) but really mo i pictered something going on at grace too

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  12. yvette Avatar

    you make me happy feeling a little bit part of the herd
    love and love and more!

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  13. grace Avatar
    grace

    but, Marti…remember how now and again we have said how
    it seemed as if this Place had been “waiting” for just
    such a thing? how really easily it accommodated them?
    there are those half empty moments that say oh eee this is TOO MUCH, but then i will go out there and say for instance, call SnowBunny and here she will come, her plump self rocking back and forth on her short legs, with that look on her face of Yes??, What?
    anyway…the halfway place on the glass is etched with
    a line that says For Now. i can’t know why this has happened and i can’t know its Meaning in the Big Picture.
    and i DO know that i am finding uhhh, reserves of energy,
    reserves of determination that were never really needed before. it’s quite interesting to feel them rising up.

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  14. grace Avatar
    grace

    you use good words. Thrust. yes. but it was Thrust on
    both daughter and i, And, really the Goats. was the last
    thing in the world daughter wanted to have happen. and
    you are right. i never would have Chosen to take up
    singular Goat Keeping. but there it was. the alternative
    was to sell the herd.
    and i think the hardest part now is when my own glass is
    half empty and i find myself wondering about What If she
    can’t ever take them back? How would it feel to then be
    in a position of being “practical” and selling them?
    But i’m getting better and better at just letting those
    thoughts fly through and focusing on how to make it work
    Now. which includes MILKING them. they should be Working
    Goats. and they will do their part, it’s me that’s dragging her feet.
    So, this morning there is some
    SUN
    much to do.
    love to you….

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  15. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Yes querida but you asked ME what I would do, not about yourself. For you, your place has been waiting for more than what was there before, the native grasses, the spayed foot toads, the things that you grow for nourishment for the body and the soul…for you, this is the path, for me it would not be so.
    Plus as far as the Big Picture: simply there is that underlying thread that you are doing this to hold onto your daughter’s dream and in so doing, it has become not a dream but a reality and a privilege for you to be able to hold onto this and as for why it happened: well, one day she had the goats, one day they left for CA and one day, they came back to you, whether or not you knew they were coming, whether or not, the question was asked if you could hold onto the herd for however long. They came and you decided to go with it and in so doing, you have found what you needed to have in the reserves of strength, the determination to learn all that you can about them, etc. The question to ask now is has this become your long term dream for you say you cannot imagine life now without them. Are you just going because you made a promise to Jenny to do whatever it took and takes to realize the dream of Crazy Wisdom Dairy or has it all come together so that you both share the same dream of the Dairy and the cheese that will come; the relocation that will come or the fact that she may take some and begin anew in CA and you will keep some and continue in Polvadera…

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  16. grace Avatar
    grace

    they are so easy to love

    Like

  17. grace Avatar
    grace

    every time i go in or out that door, someone is sticking
    their nose in. i really wish i could let them in, just
    for a little while. they would be so funny looking around.
    When my daughter had them, her back door opened into a laundry room with ceramic tile floors. now and then the door would not be closed properly and she would find them in there. all happy. she had a shelf and they would knock everything off so one of them could lay on the bottom shelf. they love shelves.

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  18. grace Avatar
    grace

    right now they can fit 5 of themselves on the small one. they have to stay really still tho. and then one per step.
    When i drive around, i have been keeping my eye out for
    someone who has old wooden porch and steps sitting out in
    their yard. will stop and see if i can have it. they would
    be really glad.
    thanks for being here, Sharon…

    Like

  19. grace Avatar
    grace

    it very well might happen.
    so glad you came by here, Yvette.
    i think of you All the time and send love

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  20. grace Avatar
    grace

    your support lifts me. and i felt so Good when i
    worked out the plan for the path. it’s going to Work!

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  21. grace Avatar
    grace

    only hard sometimes. most of the time it’s a piece of cake.

    Like

  22. grace Avatar
    grace

    i love that you say that. maybe i’ll name that one
    little doe out there Yvette?????

    Like

  23. Mo Crow Avatar

    Old Man Crow has a good story about visiting a share house in the countryside back in the 70’s, the goats got into the house whilst everyone was down at the creek having a swim & they all had such a great time jumping up on the tables and cupboards and had even started eating the cloth on the front of the stereo speakers!

    Like

  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    Sharon, i went back several posts and couldn’t find
    an earlier comment of yours…i try to check the comment
    department every evening to be sure none fall through the
    crack. but i thank you again for coming by here….xo

    Like

  25. grace Avatar
    grace

    oh that’s GREAT! it would be so Awful and so Wonderful
    at the same time. Maybe if someday i just get so DONE
    with it all i’ll just open the door and stand aside. i can
    just imagine it. and they RUSH around, enmass when there is something new and unknown…it would just be CHAOS.
    oh…eeee…it’s really kind of appealing to me……

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  26. Mo Crow Avatar

    knowing goats and their curiosity it’s kinda deja vu & will be awesomely bad and good at the same time as you say! like when I was working in the Sydney Botanic Gardens as a gardener and had the most gloriously frothy bed of pink ranunculus in full flower for the spring display. A flock of 20 sulphur crested cockatoos were in the bed early one morning all tossing the pink flowers into the air & squawking with great glee. I ran down the hill yelling at them to p… off laughing & furious at the same time & didn’t have a camera but the image is seared into my memory banks forever…you must take pictures !

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  27. kat Avatar

    Oh,Grace, if I was anywhere near you, I would tear off one of those strips and call you immediately! I am now looking to see what I can do to provide for myself, again. Developing a shop online, wrote again in my blog. Put out as many feelers as I can.
    I want to say that, though I’ve only lurked here recently, and not commented, you give me a warm place to visit, and I love reading about your life and seeing your lovely goat people. I aspire to have something like you have created with my own blog, and am putting a lot of thought into that creation.
    I’ve been described as a glass half full person by someone else, and I think it’s still true, even now. I see your glass half full and sometimes actually overflowing, but you always manage it, true to your name, with grace.
    Thank you for being out there in this beautiful land where we live.

    Like

  28. grace Avatar
    grace

    yes!, just like that. a kind of Wild Abandon! you can’t
    help but to be carried away by it’s crazy free ness….

    Like

  29. grace Avatar
    grace

    i’m glad that you can come and cruise around sometimes.
    it’s quite enough. i went to your blog. will go again.
    SF has been under the radar with Rain, yes? it’s so good
    to get SOME. but then someplace needs to get a LOT.
    Tomorrow i’m going to come home from working on the back
    road and stop to look at the River. was told today that
    it is again the River Grande…this in itself is worth
    everything.
    love to you….

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  30. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    Now there is a sentence I bet ou never saw yourseld writing:”goats love shelves.” They tickle you in all the right places, that is definitely the “half full” part. I bet it would feel even fuller, if, as you say, they start doing their goat share of the work.

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  31. mimmin Avatar
    mimmin

    you come across as a glass half full, sort of person in my humble view
    beautiful reflection of the tree in one of your photos
    now can’t get the image of shelves full of goats out of my head!

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