Birthday

I smelled fresh cut grass for the first time this afternoon.

I planned on spending the entirety of my birthday in the woods today but I woke to grey skies and cold temperatures so I took myself shopping instead. Went a little apeshit at the consignment store. I treated myself to some takeout sushi afterward and as I drove home balancing the soy sauce and raw fish with the steering wheel, the sun came pouring out and the clouds tarried along in another direction.

So I came home to a beautiful day and a beautiful birthday cake.... double layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a fig and raisen goop between the layers. My chef friend, Jeff, gave me new windsheild wipers and a bulb for my left headlight. Bill and Ella got me fuzzy clogs and a beautiful embroidered April Cornell shirt. I guess there is something else in the mail but that'll be a while yet. I love presents.

I made myself some chai and pulled on my mudboots and a sweater to hit the woods before the school bus dropped Ella off. On the walk, I discovered this season's first spider webs, trout lilies, skunk cabbages, and leeks. I walked the land next door, the land I pray will be ours sometime soon. I found the far border, marked by a long stone wall and followed it till it trailed off. I then traversed the land until I hit the other stone wall and followed that until I reached the mountain stream. I followed the mountain stream to a point that was familiar and then walked further back until I came to "my waterfall".... a place I discovered three years ago when I took myself into the woods for centering and stumbled upon that waterfall like a small child in it's own universe. I also spied a mama moose with her baby that day.

From here, the sunny window and tall work desk, I'll go to my new African dance class and shake my bootie to West African drumming by actual West Africans! Vermont is so unbelievably white.... and so when I come across someone with some actual color in their skin I just want to hug them and buy them a cup of coffee. It makes me miss my hometown. It's one of the few things that make me miss my hometown. That and Middle Eastern cooking. And perogies.

And then it's dinner and vino at our friend's opening night at his new cafe. I couldn't ask for a better birthday!