Today felt more like fall. The breeze was chilly and every where I looked I saw leaves turning yellow and orange in neon like patches on the maples of every street. In my job I am on the road a fair bit. The county I travel is large. It takes in a swath of land from Algonquin Park to the tip of Prince Edward County. The communities I visit out side the city are rural and each little town or hamlet has its own unique story and culture. While there are times I complain about the physical aches and pains I experience from driving around never really getting any exercise, I remind myself to let them go. You see the daily experiences far out way the complaints.
Today I saw water buffalo grazing in a field. They looked content, some looking about them as the geese flew over head. Some sitting in the dip in the hill sunning themselves and others walking the boundary of the field. In one corner of the farm there was a small fenced in area filled with calves frolicking and nudging each other out of the water trough. It all made me smile and marvel at the same time. I mean water buffalo, here , near my own back yard just doing what other bovines do. However, it was a remarkable sight.
Further along the road I saw two falcons dipping and diving over a newly cropped field. Just the other day the field was high with corn. Now its a golden stubble lined field, all the easier to spy your pray in if you were a falcon. I slowed down to gaze at them and watch their dance and saw the rabbit one of them yanked from the ground, the other turning and flaying after the lunch now safely in the clutches of the master hunter. I had a moment of distress for the rabbit, but heard my fathers voice, " it is the cycle of life". So I left it there not wanting to give into the pain of loss for the rabbit or the family in their warren tonight wondering if there relative was going to make it home. Of course that thought was completely attacked by my rational brain and then I needed to know if rabbits could even have that kind of brain? Shaking my head to clear the craziness forming in my brain I was distracted by a field full of rusting farm implements.
The field reminded me of the market auctions I used to go to with my father on a Monday at Lanark. Apart from the hours of which I stayed in the vehicle while my father wheeled and dealed, I loved going to the cafe for lunch with him and his friends. It was called the Ladyacre Cafe. I loved, loved, loved the rich lentil soup. My father used to shake so much white pepper into his soup I sneezed every time. On the way home he always stopped at a corner shop and bought me a treat. It is no wonder that our whole lives we associate food with our understanding of "being good enough". ( A topic for another evening)
Soon I was at my destination and more great experiences. My clients simple vegetable garden and the pleasure it brought her to be eating her own home grown food. Their goofy tail wagging dog that just needed me to love him for a few seconds. On my way home driving over the river and hearing the water tumble over the rocks and how the sound refreshed me and the stress of the day began melting away.
These simple pleasures in my day to day travels makes everything I do an adventure. Sometimes feeling like a child in awe of what I have seen, sometimes feeling like a wise old woman knowing that I have witnessed a moment in nature that is often hidden to others.
Today's shoulds are about seeing the adventures as gifts. Accepting them and storing them so I will know when to use them in my journey.
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