Jan 3, 2015 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries

A Walk in the Woods En Famille Plus Dog

© Jan. 3rd, 2014

By Vijaya Sundaram

We took another long walk in the Fells today, en famille.  It was a cold, cold day (30 degrees), and all three of us were warmly layered (S said, looking down at her snow pants and thick-jacketed trunk, “I look fat and lumpy!”  Dang!  When did she get self-conscious about imagined weight and looks?  We don’t even buy popular culture magazines or watch T.V.  Got to nip that in the bud!  I replied, “I see a nicely-shaped girl in padded, warm snow pants.  Why do you care how you look?”  Her response?  I wish I were old enough like you to NOT care how I look.”  Anyway, moving right along …).

Holly was beside herself with joy.  She gets to be off-leash for much of her time in the woods, and she loves, loves, loves racing up and down the little wooded paths, rushing up big, rocky ledges, hurtling down towards us, patrolling the area around to keep us safe from huge, monstrous forest beasts, and generally being very important and wavy-tailed.  She is very big-voiced, and sounds brave when she woofs.  Silly thing!

Lots of ice in little pools, happy dogs with their owners, little kids clambering up exposed rocks, breaking off lumps of ice in pooled hollows … nice day, despite the bone-chilling cold.  I lay on our favorite rocky outcrop, and looked up.  It was lovely to feel the heartbeat of the earth, and the embrace of an ash-grey sky.

Big, thick branches on the ground made good walking sticks for us intrepid hikers, and we slithered downhill, crunching on leaves and chunks of ice-outcroppings.  There was curling grass in clumps, and frozen-over moss and lichen.  Pine-needles softened the paths, and our feet were grateful.  Life is filled with beauty.

There was a lovely stream, glittering grey-black, rippling through at one point, but we wisely went over the makeshift bridge on it, since it was below-freezing, and the only reason the stream hadn’t frozen over was that it was moving too quickly.  The pond, however, closer to the road, was completely frozen over, and it was lovely to see young people skating away, playing ice-hockey — S wanted to skate too — we plan to go back there, and let her skate by the light of the almost-full moon tonight.

We came home, after going to S’s favorite spot in the woods– Panther Cave.  Too bad there aren’t any panthers here to speak of.  Or, perhaps, it’s just as well!  S clambered up and down huge rocks, made her way into various little cavernlets, nattering to herself about “ThunderClan territory.”  Meanwhile, Holly, back on her leash, went crazy, yelling at S, her big sister, to come back, or the wild beasts would get her!

As we left the woods behind, I felt my jaw freezing shut, and became silent for a while.  S looked at me, and said, “Look happy, Mom!”

I said, through clenched teeth, “But I AM happy — my jaw is icy; it’s hard to smile.”

She said, “Then, I’ll break the ice.”  At which point, I smiled, and said, “You just did!”

And we went home.

And we had lunch, and a book each, and laziness to follow.

Soon enough, school will begin, and I will become a tired wreck, a shadow of my former self.  Still, all is good, and all is well right now.
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Tags: Dreaming and Being, Freedom Trail, plus dog, walk in the woods en famille