we walk up north crestone creek trail, weather permitting, 3X a week. the trail goes up in elevation, so over the first 50 minutes, we gain about 800 feet, creating a great aerobic workout. this is prime time for fall colors, as you can see from the images below. we walk in silence, using it as an opportunity to dream and meditate. it's rare to encounter anyone on this trail, unless it's a summer weekend or holiday.
yesterday as we were walking....i was about 2-3 minutes ahead of mikela, i saw a squirrel to my right on a fallen tree trunk. she couldn't have been more than 3-4 feet away. normally, when you're that close and moving, the squirrel will scamper in it's characteristic jerky way, and be gone within seconds.
not this squirrel. she positioned herself on the branch looking directly at me and remained motionless. no tail jerks, no head moves. nothing. she just squatted on her haunches and stared straight into my eyes.
i was caught off guard. this was such uncharacteristic behavior, i flinched first, turned and began walking away. she made a loud noise that sounded like she was scolding me. i said "hey, ok, i did see you and i said hello....!
then i recalled the phrase i've been inserting after my morning meditation, just after reciting the 18 sutras, plus one i invented. i invite our committee of angels (mikela's grandmother, a lefty, called them her committee; my dad simply called them his angels) to come in and support all our endeavors. a few weeks ago i realized it would be much better to offer our support to them as well, whatever that might look like.
were they showing up in unfamiliar form and was i just walking away?
once we got back to the car & began driving home through crestone, we encountered some very beautiful, very playful goats in the middle of the road, who were amusing themselves by butting heads and jumping high in the air for no apparent reason.
i'm about to begin a new collage. more later this afternoon. scroll up one post to view it.
click on the first image & then the right arrow for a slide show
