December 26, 2005
A Winter Drive
An American Armadillo browsing in the sun
It has been a quiet Christmas for Woody and I. Woody has been down with the flu that has been traveling through my office and friday I wasnt feeling very unwell after we went to Cooper Chapel so we went home. I was sorry that I exposed all of those elderly people to my germs!
Christmas Eve I spent much of the day in bed, not eating (as to not be physically sick as much as possible, and compaired to Woody who believes in feeding an illness. To me if you are going to give the food up why eat?...I had that at a bare minimum and Im still not eating much. Perhaps this is the beginning of something, I only need to lose 100 lbs...)
We did watch services on TV, concluding with watching Father Mark and Father Miguel at EWTN at midnight conduct services there in Irondale AL. I was sorry that we were not in our own church but there was no way I was going out in the cold feeling like that.
Christmas Day we spent a good deal of the day resting and enjoying the fire, and books, and discussion of religion, the different viewpoints converging upon the same event, the Nativity of Jesus.
Conclusions?...only that we need to look at things further, and do not accept the concept that we are to accept anything "just because thats the way it is and take it on faith or else..." Perhaps the journey has now truly become an inner one.
Today we drove to Holiday Island, likely for the last time for a while. Woody will be closing the mail box there at the end of the month. All of our mail that we need is forwarding and there is no need for this extra box. After being shut in and sick and COLD, it was a lovely warm day... perfect for an outing.
The world here is a picture of soft sparenes. Colors are muted pastel, grey lacelike bare trees, pale yellow grass. The early mornings when I travel to work as the sun rises the sky is royal blue and pink...and turns to this pale tourquiose during the day and turns golden in the evening. In Hawaii you dont have a sunset everyday... here in the driest December on record the tad bit of clouds we have brings us the colors of the rainbow.
The leafless tree expose landmarks and other things we had never seen. We feel that the view is new everytime we exit our house. Valleys and hills normally covered with leafy trees are bare for our viewing.
Also, you have a much better chance of seeing the animals as they forage, with so little cover. The warm weather encouraged them to come out for us including this delightful Armadillo. I was able to nearly pet the thing it let me get so close to it. It is a mammal, I saw the hair on its back! It foraged like a rabbit nibbling at the grass and I suppose insects. Once it realized we were ther it jumped straight up and then ran very fast under the fence and away. Sadly, this is what they do when a car startles them they jump up, just at the right height to be whacked by the cars bumper. They account for the largest amount of road kill on our roads...
Deer by the dozen, we had to stop a number of times, some walking right up to the car and looking in. Sorry no photos of this I was too amazed and just sat there and took it in. The large group was in the area around the Pea Ridge National Battlefield where there are large expanses of grassy meadow turned to standing hay, perfect winter fodder.
With working in a building under artificial light, I dont see much nature so I must soak it up when I can, like the forest creatures in the winter sun...
