A mild winter?

Dear Diary,

I found my first Wooly Bear caterpillar of the season.  I always look for them each year.  These fuzzy little ones are thought to predict the severity of the coming winter.  The wider the brown part, the less severe the winter.  Of course, that is just another of those old farmer's tales but I have kept tract of their predictions and they have been right the last few years.  The year, about two winters ago, that the Wooly Bear had a very thin brown band we had over 120 inches of snow!

Being in nature and living with its signs and wisdom is something I've done all my life.  I have been a passionate Thoreauvian for decades.  I just downloaded my first computer game, I have never played one before, about Walden and a year with Thoreau at the pond.  I had to go to a friend's house to download it as my satellite connection is so bad.  What fun!  I watched the sunset on the pond as I fished for my supper and gathered blueberries and chopped wood.  I went into Concord to visit my sister Sophia and got thrown into jail for not paying my poll tax because I thought it was unjust because it supported slavery.  Today, I will see how I can get out...I have a bean field to hoe!

It is a game where building your energy by sitting quietly by a fire or reading a book is important.  You receive inspiration from finding arrowheads. The goal of the game is to balance your necessary “chores” with exploring you surroundings and contemplating nature.  I earn money by picking up Ralph Waldo Emerson’s son’s toys so I can buy what I need at the general store!  Each night I read my journal and check my food supplies.  When they are low, I gather wild blueberries, fish, or go to the village to get a pie at my mother’s house!  I got the game because I thought it would be a nice thing to do when I am recuperating from my surgery.   I am already addicted.    



Today in history, September 10, 1838, Thoreau and his brother John opened their own school in Concord.