Warm Sunshine and Slow Moving Bears

"Forest Light"

A painting from a while ago... it felt like this in the forest today. A mysterious, quiet afternoon - warm sunshine and river breath filtered through hemlock boughs. I gazed into the woods from the garden where the last few days were spent in communion with swallowtails, dragonflies and dirt. Lots of dirt. I moved wheelbarrows full from the compost pile to flower beds and lost track of the world beyond the forest clearing.  

On days like these I sink into a quiet flow, watching and listening to the world just beyond my perception. I turn and see faces in the leaves or in the bark of trees... Root Woman, who guards the entrance to the forest came alive in a moment of light just so.... 

she startled me, in fact, though I pass her every day. 

Anenomies bloom in the moss garden and a mass of purple lupine have scented the clearing with the most amazing perfume. 

Around the corner in the shade, foam flowers mingle with lady's mantle.

In the heat of afternoon, even the ferns seemed a little droopy.

A meander stone nestled into the scotch moss...

In late afternoon I ventured out for a cup of tea 

at a friend's at the end of our road... the view from her house looks

over the foothills to the Berkshires beyond. 

 

I returned just in time to see the the dark bulk of a bear lumbering slowly up the path from the forest. She was heading towards the clearing, where Pasha cat was snoozing near the lupine. When she caught wind of me, her dark, furry-edged silhouette glided quietly through the trees and disappeared into the forest. I'm glad I came when I did, to spare Pasha the fright. After days of being harassed by foxes, who are thankfully back to visiting only at night, Pasha has relaxed. Although he has learned that bears are not a threat, being startled awake by one stepping on his tail would surely be something! Luckily, he never even smelled the bear. I opted to scoop him up and bring him into the house in lieu of snapping a photo with the camera I held in my hand... A happily snoozing Pasha cat is way better than bear photos anyway...