Wood Dragon
The snow on the front steps has covered the Buddha statue up to its chin and today it’s snowing again and making a mess of the roads, Tomorrow it’s supposed to get warm and rain all day – that’ll make more of a mess.
Last night, we heard a banging on the kitchen porch, and when we turned the light on and looked out, there was a lovely opossum, all white, munching away at the birds’ mealy-worm block and suet chunks. It didn’t seem to care that we’d turned the light on; we watched for a half hour or so, then we got bored and the cats got over being freaked out and had wandered away, so we turned the light off and let the ‘possum continue its meal in peace. Another half hour gone by and it had disappeared.
This morning I was disappointed to discover that it hadn’t been back after the snow started so the only prints in the snow on the exposed part of the porch were birds’. But tonight, after looking up ‘possums and discovering that they rarely are ill and their mouths don’t harbor bad bacteria, and that they don’t hibernate and need to eat, I’ll put out for the ‘possum an old cat bowl with some of the cat food my furries rejected, and hope he finds it, and enjoys it. Maybe a carrot, too, though my carrot supply from summer’s harvest is getting low.
My pile of year-end paperwork is still 6 inches high; circumstances have kept me from it the last few days, but today I start again, and need to labor on until it’s finished. My mental climate is frustrated.
Yesterday, I voted in the primary. I was pretty much the only person wearing a mask in our small town hall; and I was followed around by an unmasked woman hacking her brains out. I didn’t turn around and punch her; which would have been a civic duty, under the circumstances. I can imagine who she voted for. My mental climate was stormy.
Several Weeks Later
Since I wrote that, I’ve managed to injure my foot and leg (all I’ll say is that a cat was involved) so I’m limping about and not sleeping well. But finally, the sun’s been out the last few days and it’s been warm, so my driveway is a very long sheet of ice. And that doesn’t help much as I limp and slip out to the garage.
The birds, or some critter, has eaten up their seed and mealy worm bar, and I’ve put out a second, which will probably be the last for this season. And I bought what might turn out to be way too many suet cakes, depending on what the weather gods decide to slam us with over the next few weeks.
My high pile of paperwork has been cut in half, which still leaves a pretty high pile of paperwork. Some of it disappeared when I made the seed orders for the garden; another big chunk went away when I delivered tax stuff to the tax lady. And more has been added, but at least I’m down to about 3 inches, now. It keeps going up and down like this winter’s snow levels, and is just about as discouraging.
However: one of my orchids just bloomed, and it has four more buds on it; and my freesias have put out a fragrant branch of flowers. The Buddha on the front steps is snow-free to just below his shoulders. The little birds have finally discovered the one hanging feeder I put out, so the big birds don’t scare them away so regularly. I haven’t seen the ravens this year, but I do hear them, so I’m thinking it’s time to put out a raw egg (in its shell) and see what happens. I’ve finally almost finished a list of all the books in the house, and I’ve done some deeper hoeing out of ones I know I’ll never read again – I bring a box o’ books to the Free Bench about once a month. I still have 46 books on my “haven’t read yet” list, and I’ve read 74 that were on the list when I first made it last year. A few of those 74 went to friends and relatives for presents, or were passed on to patients with similar tastes, but most, and more, have gone to the Free Bench (and I’ve picked up a few from the Bench that others have left). I LOVE seeing the books disappear from the Free Bench! Powdered cardamom in coffee is delicious, and almost makes up for seasonally gone eggnog. And the little tablet The Husband gave me for Christmas has made it possible to listen to 10 books while I’m driving to and from the Upper Valley, thus avoiding the news and partially saving my mind.
So the end of the Year of the vile and malicious Rabbit hasn’t
been all bad.
Metal dragon - incense burner
Saturday is day 1 of the Lunar New Year of the Wood Dragon. With any luck, the Dragon will take over from the weather gods and instill some sense of order so we can actually have gardens this year.
And adventures – good adventures!
If only I could get some sleep…
For the blog: herondragonwrites.blogspot.com 8 February 2024
All photos Deb Marshall
Dragon painting on wooden purse by Tattia, Windsor VT
Window dragons
Just for a little context: Asian Dragons live in water, usually lakes, streams or wells, until they’re 1000 years old, at which point they grow wings and can fly. The ball you see carried by some Dragons indicates the dragon is male, and the ball is his Pearl of Wisdom. In ancient China, only the Imperial family could have dragons depicted with 5 toes; all others have 3 or 4 toes. There is a famous tea called Dragon Well tea (Long Jing Cha) which is grown near a well in which a dragon resides; it’s expensive and delicious. The Chinese also say that the Earth is a Dragon, traveling through space: mountains are its scales, trees are its hair or bristles, streams and rivers are its blood vessels.
Earth dragon
In the Asian Lunar calendar, each lunar year is represented by one of 12 animals, and that animal’s characteristics will be dominant during its year. Last year was a Rabbit year; next year is a Snake year; this year, the Dragon year begins Feb 10 and ends Jan 28, 2025; the Snake begins on January 29, 2025 (Lunar years are based on the new moons). Each animal also has associated with it 5 elements. This year is the Wood Dragon; there are also Water, Fire, Earth, and Metal elements, and the element changes each time the animal comes up in its lunar year. The elements have characteristics that modulate the basic nature of each animal – as you can imagine, a Fire Dragon is going to be much more energetic and unpredictable than a Water Dragon, for example.
If you want to see a 5-toed Imperial Dragon, come into Suite 230 some day – WEAR A MASK – and take a look at the dragons embroidered in gold thread on the man’s riding over-gown hanging on the far right wall in the waiting room.
Old fart dragon - oops, The Husband!
