I've put in rather long hours at George Fox University this week--working too many evening hours to stay on top of things, so at 1:00 this afternoon I declared, "Enough!" and accepted an invitation to join a warmish sunny afternoon… Sarah, my daughter, has started a blog called Line Drawings and she stretches me to be more creative with my Ponderings. Her most recent blog, "9 things to do while on couch-rest" inspired my idea for this one, "6 things to do with a sunny February afternoon…"
1) Walk in the woods to see how the last storm changed the landscape. (I found our winter wood for the next 3 years. A huge maple came down. Even as it will heat our home for a long time, it is also a sadness, as it was a lovely tree).
2) Unlatch the hen house door to let the 5-week-old chicks outside (for the first time!) and sit with them as they explore a world that includes dirt, grass, bugs, wind, twigs, and all kinds of other potentially delightful (and sometimes terrifying) parts of the world.
3) Spread the chicken poop-enriched straw along the raspberry and marion berry rows to give them an early spring feeding of nitrogen-rich fertilizer.
4) Walk the perimeter of Fern Creek including the adjacent 5 acres of Christmas trees and check out the horses, sheep and alpaca just over the knoll on the other side. Greet the two dogs that belong to the red barn adjacent to the Christmas trees that bark at my intruding presence.
5) Put an ear to the sides of the bee hives and listen to the buzz of their winter cluster to get a sense of how they are fairing. June and Lucy had a lot of coming and going in and out of the hive so I didn't bother listening to their hives. Emma and Grace were less busy, so I listened until I heard the unmistakable buzz of thousands of bees inside their hives.
6) Contemplate dinner. (I'm thinking hazelnut blueberry pancakes or hazelnut French Toast. As you can see, I decided on the pancakes, and I've included the recipe in Farm Home Cooking.).
This afternoon energized and refreshed me. Just what my busy soul needed to find its grounding in contentment, joy and gratitude again.