Ancient

I had my breakfast on the porch today, I think it's the first of the year.
The day has been devoted to spring-cleaning the house, for my self, but also because guests are arriving which feels great.

During my lunchbreak I heard a rustle from some of last years dry leaves and saw one of our really ancient species on earth, a hedgehog. I think it has wintered under my porch but now it has wakened and come out. It felt very special to sit and watch. It looked like it was sleeping but every now and then there were some jerks in its body, like reflexes and sometimes it sounded as it was coughing and spluttering and clearing its throat but mostly it was just sleeping, breathing slowly. In the late afternoon it had moved  a bit and maybe even had some of the water i'd given it. While it slowly crawled back under the porch I took a short video and then extracted a few images, this is one of them.

I told it, in Swedish, that it had come to paradise on earth. A few meters away there is a field with millions of worms waiting and my landlord doesn't use pesticides on his ground. As long as it stays on this side of the house it's going to have a trouble free and long healthy life. It looked as if it understood and won't go to the other side of the house where there is a road with heavy traffic and much further to the worms.

My house is now clean, some flowerpots have been replanted and had new soil put in them. I'm tired but happy to have met a new neighbour.