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.

Injured Cardinal

The day after Thanksgiving, i walked into the woodshed attached to my garage and found a female cardinal. Cardinals are very skittish, so i knew i couldn't approach her directly. I left the woodshed and went around to the side door. When i opened that, she hopped toward the garage and hopped out the open door. She didn't fly. Two of her wing feathers were sticking up.

She hopped across the driveway, toward the compost bins. I didn't see her again after she hopped into a hemlock hedge. I scattered some sunflower seeds around, but The chickadees, however, found the sunflower seeds within minutes.

Ah, well. Nature will take its own course.

I was surprised to see her again yesterday. As i was walking to the compost bin, she hopped out of some very thin cover next to the garage. Hop, hop, hop--across the driveway. She fluttered about 6 inches off the ground for 6 feet. That seemed like progress. I scattered more sunflower seeds on the ground, around the garage, the driveway, the shrubbery.

Just like the cardinal, i too am of the nature to become disabled. Whether i want to or not. Maybe she had a broken wing. Maybe i will break a bone. Maybe her wing was sprained. I too am of the nature to have sprains.

Nature takes its own course.

Big Move

The big move is happening. The seasons are changing. Potatoes and winter squash have been drying in the woodshed, along with the gladiolus corms. Now it's time for everything to move to the basement, so that the wood can start coming into the woodshed.

Onions and garlic are already in the basement, but i have to shuffle them around to make room for incoming vegetables. I need more shelf space.

They say that wood warms you twice: once when you stack it and once when you burn it. Potatoes and squash aren't nearly as heavy, but there's a lot of up and down on the basement stairs. Good exercise!

Change. It's the only thing that's constant.