We learned about human design at ladies night and now we’re vision boarding about it.
I have four open centers: crown, third eye, solar plexus and root. I made colored affirmations for each and surrounded them with all things that bring me joy- in full color!
This morning on the porch, the same Aberts towhee, looking plump and healthy, came chirping on the fence once again.
Well hello. I guess you’re my new friend. Might as well embrace the new lead character of our backyard, as we move up the food chain from the precious mantis to the predator who transmuted it into her bird energy.
Towhee IS the mantis! It’s a small change with a huge impact.
She chirped to the ground for a drink from the saucer, chirping as she went. The cats just watched from across the yard. She chirp-hopped back up on the fence and was gone the same way she came.
There were two woodpeckers on the palm tree, two mockingbirds scuffling in the ocotillo, two quail digging in the dirt.
Tertiary mantis theory: it went to the lemon tree for some lacewings and in doing so, perhaps, our original hero made it yonder down the food chain and not hither into the mouth of a bird.
Or both!?
Welp, the preying mantis has moved on- to where? I do not know.
An Aberts towhee landed on the fence, dropped down onto a nail in the fence, hopped down to the ground right next to the lambs ear and pecked it as he went by.
My heart dropped. In a moment everything changed. I went out there and confirmed that the mantis was nowhere to be found.
I do have an alternate theory. When I was looking for the mantis, I noticed that a sprinkler head nearby had popped off. It is evident that water was spraying the lambs ear. Perhaps it forced the mantis to move. Maybe it is happily meditating on another leaf somewhere nearby.
I thank the little white preying mantis for it’s visit to my corner of the world and the wisdom imparted for my life.
It is a creature with intense presence for it’s tiny size and it will be missed!
I go out in the yard mid-morning to check- the birdbath is nearly dry. The lambs ear is wilted in the sun and the praying mantis is hanging upside down and holding it’s gaze in the same direction as always.
Mockingbird is with his girl hopping around up in the palm tree fronds. They’re wind surfing!
I run the sprinkler. The lambs ear perks right up and the mockingbird comes down for a drink.
I remember being so upset a couple months ago when the mockingbird and hummingbird nests were both displaced by palm tree pruning. Now they are back home and really, they never left.
We are here to weather the storm and find new life on the other side. We are resilient. Sometimes we’re hanging upside down to take cover from the hot sun. Sometimes we’re surfing in the breeze.
I go outside the day after meeting the mantis to find him again in his usual spot. I take his photo. Jason comes to the back door and converses with me across the yard.
In an instant the preying mantis has turned to me. He commands that I, “Be quiet!” I snap one last photo and dash inside to avoid further wrath.
And so our relationship continues in silence. Don’t fear the mantis; listen to it.
At dusk, I am in the yard with the cats. I go to take a photo of our newest transplant, the lambs ear. It has a dead leaf on it, so I reach down to pull it off and the would-be dead leaf jumps around and tells me to back up! It is the tiniest white praying mantis that I have ever met- and very assertive. He is here to watch the fairies play.
I hear a clucking. It gets closer. I look up and on the block wall is a quail with his dingle dangling. I walk over to him and say, “You better scram; I have cats here.” He turns around and shuffles the other way.
Every morning I feed the cats and take my meds. Now I’ve added rinse the sprouts to this routine. Today is the second day and the buckwheat and oats are sporting roots, so they are ready to taste. I will get fresh fruit and raw milk at the farmers market tomorrow, but in the meantime I soak dried ginger, goji and cherries in a cup of warm coconut milk with honey and cinnamon. Then I pour it over a bowl of these fresh baby buckwheat and oat sprouts. Oh yeah!
As I sit and eat, the mockingbird visits my newly created birdbath. It’s a Terra Cotta drip tray with rocks and it’s refilled by the sprinklers! I put it under the lemon tree where there’s shade and a nice rock perch. The mockingbird is visiting again and again this morning, each time taking several drinks of water. It makes me so happy to see my buddy!
My Nan Nan wrote many letters to many people in her life. She used the typewriter and would copy photos onto the page and send one letter to multiple people.
In my travels WWOOFing, I learned a lot. One little trick I picked up from Miss Leah Lynn at Wildforest Sanctuary was how to fold your own envelopes. Of course I made an envelope and sent Nan Nan a letter in it! She loved the inspiration and became a prolific envelope maker.
Nan passed away Feb 21, 2018. She would have turned 101 last week if she was still here. I came across a collection of envelopes that she made and sent to me, complete with address label and forever stamp.
Space Case 