Finding Peace...

Life can be a rush...the pace just moving all the time. Last Sunday was a visit to Lexington for a Ward Conference, then to the nursing home to visit my mom, the finally home to finish the day. Monday and Tuesday were snow days. I stayed in and began to do some of that cleaning out of things that you put off. I've been in a throw away mood and that is the best time to clean out things. I'm tackling the two file cabinets in my sewing room. It feels good to get them cleaned out. Tuesday I managed to clean the oven. My hubby headed to the Church to pick up his dress winter overcoat he left there on Sunday. I later learned he found snow on the parking lot and decided, since he was the only one there and the surface was just right, he would see how his Jeep handles doing circles in the snow. Men always stay boys at heart. Wednesday I managed to take dinner to a friend, get back into the nursing home with my parents and then to the Church for my presidency meeting. The parking lot still was not plowed. As I left in the evening I drove over Claude's tracks in the snow on the side of the building. Today Claude had an appointment to get new tires on the Jeep (Hmmm....wonder if all that snow spinning made that need greater??). I followed him in to the dealer where we have our work done and picked him up after he dropped off his Jeep. I drove him directly to Dairy Queen for biscuits and gravy. Then we took my car through the car wash. It was so nice to see it was still red after all the snow and dirt grime were removed. Grocery shopping at Walmart was next on our agenda. Then we headed back to Sadieville. After unloading all those groceries and putting them away, I checked eMail's and then headed upstairs to my bed with my novel. I read for about an hour and then slept for about 45 minutes. Been feeling like my brochitis thought it needed to make a comeback today. So I felt the rest would be a good thing. In the afternoon, Mayor Claude headed to Sadieville for a meeting with Geoff Davis, our U.S. Congressman. He is a very nice man and Claude had a good visit with him at City Hall in Sadieville about the plans for Sadieville. When Claude got home we headed back to Georgetown to pick up the Jeep. The payment for this trip was a visit to Fava's for 'frickles'. Fava's makes the best breaded fried pickles that you dip in their homemade ranch dressing. After dinner we headed back to the dealership where I left Claude to pick up his car. I headed back to Sadieville. This week one of our friends had knee surgery. We've been trying to keep tabs on her. Another friend found out her hubby only has 6 months to live. The range of emotion felt with all the things that happened during the week is wide and varied. I told Andie this afternoon I wished we had someone that was having a baby on our block so we could feel that excitement and joy as well. So back to my opening statement...Life can be a rush. It can be difficult to find peace in all the noise and rush of life. But it happened with a little incident this evening. I looked out in our back yard and there was a deer looking for places where the snow had blown away so they could forage on that bit of grass. Soon this deer was joined by another and then another with a little fawn. They were beautiful. My mind did flash quickly to them eating our veggies in the garden in the summer. But I put that in the far back corner of my mind (hmm...that must mean my mind is a cube or square if it has a corner...but I digress). These deer were just beautiful. What a neat thing to be created on this planet for us to enjoy!! We have about 7 inches of snow on the deck. I grabbed by camera and put on my clogs (not the best shoes for walking in the snow on the deck but they were close). I opened the door to the deck carefully and then stepped out in the snow. The crunch brought up the deers ears and the head came up quickly to watch for movement. I froze and waited until they felt comfortable putting their heads down. I finally got close enjoy to the rail to quickly snap one shot before they raced for the forest on the empty lot we own next to the lot our home is on. This is the picture I got of two of the deer. You can tell that the one in front is turning to make his getaway.

I went back inside to place a few calls I needed to do in the evening. Claude got home and he saw the deer. He called for me to come quickly. This time there was a whole herd. Maybe 10-12 of them. They were strolling across the yard. I grabbed the camera and headed to the open door just as the phone rang. They heard the phone. I grabbed it and told Valorie I would call her after I finished my photo op. Fortunately I left footprints in that 7 inch snow on the deck which made my steps easier this time. But that deer was still watching very closely so it was take a step, pause till I saw his tail twitch and then take another step. When I finally made it to the rail, I just paused for a long time and we watched each other. I was sure the first time the flash went off that deer would be out of there. I was surprised when it just stood there and watched me take the picture and then the flash.

As I watched where he was grazing, I was pretty sure I knew why the Marigolds I planted did not come up last spring. They probably fed some deer the winter before. I found myself wishing I could talk to that deer and see what his life was like in the woods near our home. I remember reading fairy tales as a child where some young girl or princess was so kind and good that the animals would come right up and visit with her. I wondered if I had that kind of aura about me that an animal could feel safe around me. Is it just instinct that makes them run or are they like Bambi and their mother taught them in deer language about humans and to fear them. It was a nice moment to pause and enjoy the wildlife we have around us in Sadieville.

While watching the deer I realized there were many deer tracks across the lawn to and from the stand of trees on our empty lot.

After a good bit of time, the herd returned. They must have foraged across the back yards of our neighbors until something scared them off. Some of the neighbors have dogs that may have done that or it could have been a person. But suddenly they were thundering back to get to the safety of the trees. At this point my camera decided it was time to have the screen go black to save energy. I did get one quick shot of the deer running but only 3 of them show up in this photo. They are beautiful when they run over that hill. You have to look under the 2nd fir tree from the right to find 2 deer and to the right of the big fir tree on the right at the edge of the picture to see the 3rd deer.

There you have it...a moment of peace amidst the chaos of life. I do love living in the country!!