woke off and on all night.   And finally this morning at 3a  and could not go back to sleep.  Very dark Out There.  Could not see.  Constant rain.   I tried several ways to wait until light….i tried to read,  i tried to draw,  i tried to clean up the sewing table,  i did dishes i'd left last night.  i thought about cleaning house  but dogs always go Out when i use the vacuum and they couldn't.   All i could really do is Listen for Them.  Also knowing that whatever i might hear,  there was Nothing to be done about it.

so i sat down and just thought about these kinds of moments that feel like the brink of the end of the world.   And how i actually know that it is not possible,  that whatever might occur will just be whatever it is and there will be Just Going from there.   But the discomfort of it is Wasted Energy and i would really like to go beyond it.   To really just skip  the end of the world part as soon as i feel it rising up,  to just be able to let it go immediately and move to the sense of Just Going.

So i ended up making this

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an End of the World Pocket.

 

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the denim actually is stitched to be a pocket.    Whatever it is,  today formless anxiety about the wellbeing of the Goats,  mostly the bucks,   needs to be written on a piece of paper,  placed in the pocket.   and walked away from.      Tomorrow is supposed to be the BIG Storm Day but then  by Saturday it will have moved on.   And i think on SUNday i would take out that piece of paper and look at what i wrote.   And i think put it back.  Let this be a permanent place for this kind of Useless Worry.   See how often something occurs that would be "pocket material".   And it would be important to always put the date.   

I don't know.  But it's what i did today beside washing out feed bowls and rearranging hay bales that Tay had arranged in her own way to create a space out of the rain while still outside.  

And once i got it all stitched,  i didn't need to use it.  Just the making of it was Enough.  So one more hard hard day and then we begin the just going.   And the priority will be to mend and extend the buck hut.  It's all i can really do.  Except to really realize that things are not "normal" anymore.  to not assume that things will be as expected.  I had thought i had time,  like through October to shore up the buck hut for winter.   But No.   And too,  this might not happen next year either,  but what i need to understand is that it Might and to not put things off.  To really prioritize.   And the Goats are number ONE.

 

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This was yesterday morning in the Way Back.  Their stump is getting very beauty full when wet now.

 

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This morning.   I moved all the feed bowls into the Middle Pen which is soggy,  but no standing water.   There were a few hours of this afternoon when the Beloved SUN shown and now there is a great dullness at the Rim.  More.  So, ok.   and Hey Ho.

 

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19 responses to “the end of the world”

  1. dee Avatar

    the pocket is a good idea… it has the feel of storm on front, but the secure inside suggests safety/containment… I hope it helps.
    I wrestle with tucking things away too often and too soon… I don’t think you do. But if I actually could HOLD what it is that global climate change is doing in my mind more of the time, would I live the same way?!! I doubt it. So there’s that.
    Fires raging in California as I type.

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  2. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes…as i said, i didn’t even need to Use it…just making it helped focus Intent.
    Stuff tucked away rises up endlessly. It’s the DO what needs to be done thing.
    Yes. Fires in N. Cal. That’s where my daughter and i talked about going.
    That’s the one thing i can feel ok about. I live Bottom Line right now. Some years back, i taught self how to live even simpler and i know i can do it if it seems to be the thing. Like without
    propane for cooking, hot water. Without running water even. But these are luxuries i still enjoy. But i think about them. About those who have NO potable water. When i was sitting this morning in the lamp light i thought about how comforting that one bulb was. and again, how so many do not have one single electric light. If you live where you are totally dependent on the SUN, this can be ok and even good. But if you ride the margin, like coyotes, one single bulb can be wonder full. There’s so MUCH to think about.
    and… it’s what we were born For.

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  3. Joan@CopperCreekers Avatar

    i understand ‘formless anxiety about the wellbeing of the Goats’
    i would often have animal related anxiety attacks when we cared for feral and semi feral cats. we had anywhere from 6-15 or more. we have a very restricted fixed income and couldn’t do as much as we wanted. we made sure there was clean water and fed twice a day and what ever else we could do for them.

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  4. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    A pocket to place the unforeseen…for me, 87 miles away, no heavy rain, just a steady drizzle. Living on the margin, well yes, have been there, even now, life is lean but I do have everything I need, shelter, food, books to read, this window into cyber land. We are at higher elevation so the countless flood advisories that have been given today and tomorrow probably will not impact us but still, the worry of tomorrow…don’t have a pocket but have the altar cloth that I made from windfall here in New Mexico. Cloth started out as wall hanging and a remembrance of when my family visited in March but the more I looked at the markings and the recreation of places we had visited via this cloth, I found myself taking off all of the rocks, candles, lavender sprig, etc. and just holding it in my hands for a while…the land comforts even while it is devastated by the elements, it’s a part of living here and so we go on and as you say, Hey Ho…

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  5. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. about animals you are related to. The dogs…they can be
    IN here. There is no worry.
    but the Goats….and i guess it’s just experiencing things…them, me, and now i will have This “under my belt”. Will have This much
    WET and know that we can all Just Go. There’s no other way to learn that than to go through it. i am never really afraid for myself.
    And i am never afraid for my kids, first or grand. it’s animals
    that i am responsible for. Feeling like i didn’t do what should
    have been done.

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  6. grace Forrest Avatar

    Marti…YES…Hey HO. Hey Ho is the important part., really to
    just Go with such great and strong Heart. To Learn, to Do, to
    not know, but feel our way through. Yes. Hey Ho.

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  7. tracy Avatar
    tracy

    I’m glad it wasn’t the end of world. That’s a very nice tree stump. The goats are lucky to have you.
    When we got married a friend gave us a pretty porcelain jar to keep things from our marriage in. We put other things in it, but I always think that the empty spaces in it are full of our marriage. Invisible, intangible, still going after many years. Your panic pocket reminded me. You can take things out and read them someday and laugh. It will be fine.
    Hang in there with the weather. It will pass and you can go to the river and enjoy all the water.

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  8. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    A pocket for anxiety! A POCKET! I laughed out loud. Brilliant. I used to keep a book of worries, then worries got integrated into diaries and I would mark them off like this> (aside) <Like they were off-stage, not the main show, an intrusion. It helped me. Ah those little tricks we play on ourselves when stuff grips us. Anyway, I thought of you and tuned into the BBC and found the weather–this is a throw off from that hurricane and is gonna be a total of nine inches rainfall before it’s done. But it will NOT be the end of the world and all will be fine again. There will be some good weather for building projects and golly I wish i were there to help. Sorry about the bird-what was I thinking…of course Tay had to find it. Anyhoo cheers and hugs to you and yours. (aside-not a worry just a note to say it’s 3:30 AM and I need to go to bed!}

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  9. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    I just eraSED the second half of the message in which I said (reconstructing from memory) that ‘aside’ was like it was off stage, not the main show and not important. The way I handled getting caught in fear was to notice it and let it go…sometimes I’d write long letters to no one and store them away. We have these tools to get our brains uncaught, disentangled, free of fear and back to doing. Brilliant. Also–what WAS I thinking-of COURSE Tay had to find the bird! I checked the BBC yesterday when thinking about your rain, and it is part of the throw off of that big hurricane and slated to be about nine inches total before it ends (land probably likes it a lot) and NOT the end, just a temporary condition with lots of good building weather to follow. All’s well. Keep on keeping on and know I think of you…we all think of you. So when you get a if you wan to here’s the free cut from Leonard Cohen’s newest album (you know he’s Buddhist by the way} http://www.npr.org/2014/09/15/347480040/first-listen-leonard-cohen-popular-problems?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140917&utm_campaign=allsongs&utm_term=music

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  10. Patricia Avatar

    very familiar with these feelings…very familiar…and you’ve demonstrated a proactive way of going…of dealing. offering up the concerns to the universe. maybe there are other things we can do? but i don’t really know what they are.
    here it’s rainy also but that’s not too unusual for this time of year.
    so Grace…what’s really important to me right now is this–i’ve been caught up in the concerns of relocating…selling this house, buying the next one. and i’ve been behaving as though these challenges were the biggest thing going on in the whole f…ing world. NOT TRUE. thanks for the reminder. perspective is helpful

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  11. Mo Crow Avatar

    love how the your making of this pocket put the worry into perspective, yesterday I was soooo freaked out but getting out and gardening helped heaps, today is looking fine so far (it’s just after 4am) up and down, life’s always a roller coaster, might as well enjoy the ride ahe?

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  12. Saskia Van Herwaarden Avatar

    wanting to skip the end of the world part, yep I sure know how that feels, but and it’s a Big But, it’s a package deal ain’t, can’t pick and choose what we want and don’t want…..How we deal with everything that’s thrown at us, that’s the choice we do have; reading about how you made a panic pocket, thereby focusing on the pain has made me aware once again of the importance of the focus: looking closely at what hurts and why

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar

    isn’t it always such a funny surprise?, that it’s NOT…the end?
    but that it’s just some stuff to learn from?
    It IS a beautiful stump. we are lucky to have eachother.
    i love this jar of yours and how it holds the invisible, intangible,
    the still going. i just LOVE this. I love hearing of mateings that
    are long and strong. I always wanted one. Didn’t get. but i learned.

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  14. grace Forrest Avatar

    i like that…”aside” there is a lot of perspective to that word

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    Leonard needs to let it go

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s the Caught Up Ness. You like Me, are working on this. But the only way to Work is to just go, Right?
    Context. Perspective.
    we’re good……………..

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    ALWAYS. ALWAYS. ALWAYS. getting OUT. it always works.

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    but yes, we can. we can choose the RESPONSE. Not what comes, but
    the RESPONSE. LEARN LEARN LEARN i say to self grace. LEARN.
    Let it hurt and that’s ok, but LEARN

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