Nuthatch on Icicle

 

While waiting its turn at the suet feeder, a nuthatch waits on a nearby icicle. It looks like a chilly perch to me, but then i've been going barefoot in the snow.

Today is the day people over 75 can sign up for vaccinations in our state. It's been feeling like a long, cold wait. When? When? When? Then this morning, when is the website going to open? The state Health Department didn't give a specific time because they didn't want to be overwhelmed. After meditation at 7:00, i checked the website again for my sweetie, and it was open! He got his appointment. Now he waits 12 days for February 6, the date of his vaccination.

Waiting through these next cold days for the long-awaited shot.

Waiting. What is "waiting," really? Waiting is not being in the present moment. Waiting is looking forward to the next moment, the next hour, the next day, the next week, the next month. As if "now" were something to be pitched aside in favor of the the desired "then."

The nuthatch perches on an icicle. That is all. Perching, perching. Breathing, breathing. Heart beating, beating.

That sentence about waiting for the suet feeder is just a story i made up.

Orange Juice

 

Sharon, a California friend, sends me a photo of the orange tree in her back yard. 

Encased in frigid weather here in the North Country, i can't even imagine walking outdoors in bare feet to go pick an orange for breakfast. Fresh squeezed orange juice sounds like heaven.

Yesterday, my spiritual friends group heard from a woman who has a still mind. Unimaginable to the rest of us. Yet, quietude, and eventually, stillness, is one of the fruits of the spiritual life. No mind; no self; no problem.

No problem that i am walking barefoot in the snow.

Barefoot in Winter

Some of my spiritual friends are doing a cold therapy such as cold showers.

Are you kidding? I'm not doing that!

But this winter, i decided to go barefoot around the house. I don't put on slippers when i go out to the deck to sprinkle bird seed on the railing for the birds three times a day. Our guest cottage is 30 feet out the back door, so i dash over to there in bare feet. I go to the wood shed barefoot and return with two logs for the wood stove.

An interesting side effect of this minimal cold therapy is that my restless leg syndrome has subsided. It's not gone altogether, but it's definitely weaker.

Proponents of cold therapy say that exposure to cold increases circulation, deepens sleep, and reduces inflammation. I will say that my sleep has improved apparently from having cold feet. It's really not so bad. I seldom notice that my feet are cool.

I know if my body is warm, i am more likely to drift into torpor during meditation. Maybe the next time i begin to drift into dreamland, i should just go take a cold shower.

Sunny and Warm

53 degrees and the sun is shining. I brought the deck chairs up from the basement so i could have lunch on the deck in my shirt sleeves and barefoot.

Oh, spring! I love you. Even though it's still March. Even though it will be another month before i take the snow tires off my car. Another 4 weeks before i store the snow shovel back in the garage.

Everything changes. Especially the weather. Especially in March.