I haven’t known where to begin, so I’ll start with some observations:
I’ve only ever truly known easy rivers. For the most part. When I stand on the banks of the Chewuch, Methow or Twisp Rivers, here in the valley, I have this sudden realization that the closer I stand to the source, the wilder the unending waters, the whiter the rapids, the smoother the stones. The rivers here are unforgettable. Everlasting. Surely I have rediscovered my youth each time I have slipped out of my shoes and walked into the torrent. I am nearly pulled away. I put my arms out for balance. The water is cold. I feel my bones chatter. The chill awakens something in me. My mind feels fresh.
There are horses in the pasture below the house. One is black and brimming with spirit. He continually calls out, his voice ringing throughout the little nook this house is nestled in. In the evening, he gallops in circles, bucks and twists in the air, snorts as the wind combs his mane. He is wild for the sake of wildness. How many things are simply what they are for the sake of themselves? Art for the sake of art. Habit for the sake of habit. Wildness for the sake of the wild. When I watch that black horse buck, I buck too. I think to myself, “Never be tamed.” I take the bit between my teeth and I run.
I have termed life in the Methow “Nook and Cranny” because there are houses and cabins where you would least expect them. It seems like we’re all living in the cleft of a rock. This house is in a secret place. You have to know it exists in order to find it.
The locals talk about how dry it is in the valley, but when we arrived, I felt my skin drink up the moisture of the air and my pores fell open. It feels lush here. They tell me the heat is coming. Let it come, I say. Let it come. Look at the rivers and the lakes here. Endless water pouring over the skin of the forests and hills. Water is never far away.
I drove over the pass to Diablo Lake where there is a beautiful gravel beach that corrals one side of the lake (the water of which is a gorgeous silty, glacial blue). I have walked that beach a few times and found it good for combing. I found seven beautiful flight feathers — they appeared as gifts. I found an osprey feather at the base of an alder. A sign? I began seeing ospreys in Pocatello about one month ago. Brief visions of them continue to pepper my life. I think they’re made of savage grace. Each time I catch a glimpse of an osprey I feel filled with innocent and abundant joy. I found gloriously twisting drift woods, a field of wild columbines, a pasture of fiddle heads, an eagle nest. In order to get closer to him, I fed a Stellar’s jay all my almonds. I marveled at how vibrant the colors are here. They are nearly audible in their richness and depth. The further one goes into the interior west, the more sun-washed the landscape becomes. The forests there are covered lightly with fine dusts that only rinse away in hard rains, the forest floors smell honey sweet and hot instead of musty and damp. This is a different world. I love discovering it.
I planted my garden. It still feels like magic, every year: putting seeds into the dirt and watching them rise up green and become something nourishing for the body and soul. For being an ancient practice, gardening never grows old. I want to wrap my arms around the bees and butterflies and be lifted up on the winds of tiny wings. I want to build small cradles in the lilacs for the hummingbirds to find their rest. Already we fly towards the summer solstice. I don’t want to watch the daylight shrink away. Not yet.
Some of the birds here are new to me. I left my Peterson’s guide at home, most unfortunately.
There is a pair of nuthatches with a nest inside a tree trunk at the smokejumper base. Those baby birds are always crying out for more bugs. The adult nuthatches never rest, they feed their brood constantly. I wonder if this is how my girlfriends who have babies exist? Constantly in flight, sensitive to the voices of their children, a mess of wings, wind and bugs in beak?
A funny story for you: One day, I bought a sandwich in town and went up into the hills for a picnic with Tater Tot. I found a beautiful ponderosa pine stand on a hillside and sat in the shade with a book and my food. For five minutes I enjoyed that peaceful little space until Tater began to act very strangely and the fact that I had sat down in a nest of baby snakes was suddenly revealed to me. It was truly heinous. One slithered across my bare foot as the entire nest of serpents violently erupted and began sliding into the grass around me. I nearly had a coronary as I picked up my things and ran down the hillside screaming. Surely, had they been rattlers, I’d have been bitten multiple times. If you are coming to the Methow, beware the baby snake nests. I know where one is and I promise not to take you there. I never feared snakes until I lived remotely in Arizona. Now they strike terror into my heart, no matter the species. I am incapable of controlling my physical and vocal reactions at the sight of snakes. I think my fear could be classified as a phobia and I am slightly embarrassed of it…but if you could only know how I suffered at the hands (?) of rattlesnakes whilst living in Arizona…you would understand.
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Well, that’s a good little glimpse at the past few weeks of my life. I hope you are wonderful in every way, and if you aren’t, I hope you’re spinning the dark into light and managing to find hope, peace and joy regardless of your life circumstances. More soon and all love from the Methow!
xx
So there you are in the methow…sigh! Seems like lost ones poke their heads out at the same time. I followed your descriptions and sighed with happiness for you. I have a freakish fear of snakes and so I felt your fear…looking forward already to hearing your wild tales…xx
Here we are!!! True!
Missed you too, Miss Mona.
That’s a great way to describe snake fear: FREAKISH.
HA HA HA!!!!
Glad, as always, to know I’m not alone.
xx
Oh, Jillian! So good to read you here again. I’m also astounded at the speedy progress of the season, so much to do, so much. I wish you peace when you need, and adventure where you are. Be well, beautiful friend.
Hey Girl!!!
DELAYED THANK YOU for the chocolate you sent before we left Idaho — it was DIVINE. We ate it joyfully and it helped fuel my soul as we packed and cleaned the house. We just nabbed ourselves a PO Box here a couple of days ago so expect some mail soon, chica! xx
so. glad. to. have. you. back.
so glad!
your descriptions are enchanting, precise, and brimming with life. i love them.
about the snakes… (shiver)
there is fear, and then there is healthy fear.
being fearful of sitting in a nest of snakes strikes me as healthy. (no pun intended)
be happy, you wild and untamed little spirit of the west!
xx
🙂
Oh you.
🙂
Thanks for affirming me in my fear whilst in the snake nest! GUFFAW! I’m glad I survived. We have rattlers here so I’m glad I wasn’t bitten to death….and Tater Tot made it safely as well. Gosh. I’d have crumpled if I’d have lost him.
I keep thinking of you every day. Mail soon.
xx
How many things are simply what they are for the sake of themselves? I think you are, Miss Plume. So good to have you back. It seems you’ve landed where your heart will sing the sumer long.
that would be summer long.
Well, you very well might be right!!! It’s good to be back, you beauty. Thanks for being here. XX
So lovely to see you in this space again…and in your new space.
I used to be heroically tomboyish as a kid. I have since grown into a spectacular weenie. I would have been squealing along side you. (Or possibly rooted to the spot.)
Enjoy the lushness that is Washington! xxx
Oh, and big congrats to Erin O.! Lucky lucky lady! =)
Hey chickadee! I’d have looked you up but we bypassed Spokane on blue highways between here and Grangeville! I should be in Spoko sometime this summer though and I expect iced tea and the experience of hearing your neighbor’s miserable dogs yap throughout the afternoon while we talk and listen to a thunderstorm recording. I hope you are WRITING!!!
And thanks for always being such a wonderful good sport when I have these giveaways. I appreciate that so much.
x
0h so very happy to have you back and sharing your words again! I’ve missed you!! Hope you are having fun with RW!
Missed you back, KB. xx
It hasn’t been the same without you! Wow. There you are, exploring your new land and getting drenched in the beauty that surrounds you, and sharing it all with us chomping at the bit for your return, to fill us up again. Glad yer back.
Hey beauty! Here I am, here you are. So glad everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be. Thank you for being so kind. I love that about you…..let’s meet sometime. x
So close…oh, so close! I thought for a second I won the necklace, but nope 🙁 I was number #25, and my maiden name was O’Connell, so…. my little heart did a little jolt until my brain kicked in. Poo.
Happy to see you back here. Looking forward to seeing your new home through your words and photos!
🙂
OH NO!!!
I always feel so terrible about drawing only ONE name. 🙂
Thanks for being here! xx
OK. that’s it. i’m ripping up my ticket. if you want to see me, you’ll have to come to alaska. at least our predators are so large we can see them before we sit down in their nests….
[p.s. joke: i’ll just wear my snake boots. and not sit down in any grass.]
[p.p.s. i want to ride a wild bucking pony. and wear my pony ring when i do.]
Nooooo!!!! Don’t rip it up!
I know. I said that very sort of thing whilst living in AZ — that I preferred to be eaten by a cougar or bear instead of being stung and bitten by scorpions and spiders, killer bees and snakes. Just awful.
I’m going to hook myself up with wild Little Blackie, down below the house. I’m going to try to meet the neighbors this week. I toured around a few open artist studios in the Methow this afternoon (there was a *thing* going on) and one lovely husband of an artist told me he knew my neighbor (Jan) and that we would get along famously and she raises chickens in a serious way. !!!!! Sounds like a kindred spirit. We can ride her donkeys. Hee. Haw.
xx
i drink your words. jillian, you are like a never met, but utterly felt soul sister.
your new temporary spot in the world sounds glorious. happy new home making!
http://i514.photobucket.com/albums/t343/roselaluna/2l912jd.jpg
Little Cloud, as always, I am so glad to see you here. Thank you for the link! After I read it I said, “EXACTLY!!!”
Whenever I read a post from you, I am inspired to drink in the world around me in huge, joyous gulps. Love that you are back and sharing your beautiful new home, snake nests and all.
Snake nests and all!!!!!!
HA HA HA!!!!
Thank you for being here, sweet thing.
x
As you feel about Ospreys, I feel about Red Tailed Hawks. They are always around, soaring when I look up, striking love and awe into my heart. As you fear snakes, I fear spiders. After living in Australia, where there are numerous, sneaky, deadly spiders (one of which bit me), I simply cannot control my reactions to them. It frustrates DW to no end, to have me shrieking over a tiny spider, but in my mind, that thing could kill me 🙂
I love seeing you experience your new space. The Northwest is truly magical.
CAT!
How was Idaho?
I love RTHs as well. So powerful.
I fear spiders AND snakes after Arizona. It’s ridiculous. They’re so terrible and sneaky. I have a feeling I know how you feel when you see the creepy crawlies!!!
LOVE the northwest. Love it so much.
Hope to see you soon!
x
YAYYYY!!!! A lovely post about a lovely new adventure. I especially appreciated “Constantly in flight, sensitive to the voices of their children, a mess of wings, wind and bugs in beak?” as I am always finding bugs in my beak 😛
xoxoxo
HA HA! I thought of you while writing those words! I’m glad they made you smile. xxx
Oh Plume – they are much maligned creatures, snakes – but I DO understand. When one has killed someone you love, you’re allowed to find them frightening.
They are maligned! That’s why I feel so embarrassed of my terror! But I really cannot help it. Thanks for understanding the root of my phobia. Love it when I see you here. xx
Indeed. I actually like snakes but can completely understand your reaction, given what you experienced in Arizona.
So good to see you THERE, with RW, discovering so much new!
I used to like snakes. I had a pet snake in kindergarten. I took it for show and tell to my classroom! True story! The other children were terrified.
I think the reason I am so embarrassed of my fear is because I really cannot control it. No matter the species of snake, my reaction is the same. I can see a garter snake and identify it as a garter snake but my physical reaction is the same, no matter what. It’s awful. I need snake therapy.
It’s good to be here. HERE! At long last. It hasn’t disappointed yet. It’s June and I’m having dinner with RW. How out of the ordinary!!!
x
really nice to hear your voice again. sorry about the snakes… heinous indeed.
Indeed! Thanks for being here, R. x
other than that last story (eep!), sounds like you are settling in well to your new surroundings, soaking up the wild around you and finding your voice.
I am! I’m loving it! There’s so much to do, so many friends to love, so many new spaces to see. It’s pure magic. x
Life is good!
Your studio space is sublime….
🙂 Thank you for thinking so. I think so too!
So wonderful to hear from you again… I’ve been missing you. You write my favorite words on the internet! Snake nest, uh- yuck. hiss~ hiss~
I missed you too! 🙂
Oh, girl!
I just got a little teary eyed for you (maybe a little for me, too) and I don’t know why — just happy for you, and happy you’re back (here on the blog), and happy you are there, where you are.
It’s like you just called to say you’d arrived “home,” (you know what I mean? After someone comes to visit and then they call later that night to say they got home okay?) and I’m grateful. Enjoy every minute. xo
Alicia! You are such a delight. I guess it was a kind of check-in post, wasn’t it? I tried to write a post for days about the why and the beauty of being in the summer home…but for some reason the words wouldn’t come. So I just took snippets of journal entries and shared them with you instead. Every comment you ever leave is so warm. Thank you for being so kind and tender. xx