This World Is Not the Whole Story

When we were in the Barrens on Thursday, my husband jogged by some favorite ponds but did not stop. He suggested that the next day, we go back and spend time there with our chairs and our books. Friday was expected to be warmer, with temps all the way up into the 50s!

I somehow hurt my right knee back in late November, and my walking is still somewhat restricted. I can walk. I am no longer using the cane. I just can't go as far or as fast. My knee is better but I don't want to hurt it again by overdoing things.

So our plan was that we would take one of the cars, park it at the top of Tow Hill, and walk into the Barrens from there. That would save me the two miles of walking up and down Tow Hill, which I do often enough. (Those decorative grasses I love and covet are at the top.)

So Friday mid-day found us taking one of the cars over to Port Matilda for a quick and good and cheap cheesesteak, which is the Friday special at Lykens Market, and my husband dropped a package off at the post office. It felt strange to do, but from there, we actually DROVE to the top of Tow Hill!

We walked past several vernal pools, and ended up at two of our favorites. Sometimes they are one big pond. Other times, they are two, with a bit of separation in the middle. After some decent recent rains, all of the vernal ponds have SOME water in them. 

We took our chairs and sat between the two little ponds, as you may see in the extras. There's my husband in his chair. My chair is in front of that tree to his left. The tunes box is on, playing good 80s music: Duran Duran, the Hooters. (Did you know that Peter, Paul, and Mary actually provide backup vocals for one song on Hooterization, a Retrospective?) Our critters are sitting on a nearby log.

It was a beautiful day and the sun was so lovely, sending tree shadows down onto the ponds. The light was gorgeous and the reflection show was fantastic. It had been a cold night and there was a layer of what I call "crackling ice" on the surface. 

It looked like puzzle pieces, combined with a sort of crackle glaze like they use in ceramics. The world, reflected, deconstructed, pulled apart, and put together again in new ways. Sky. Water. Trees. Sunshine. Feathers of ice. Sparkles of light.

So much texture, so many angles, so much shine. Years and years later, they will ask me how my life was, and I will say silly and useless things like, "I remember that the light was really gorgeous that day." But that's how it was. We were happy in all the ways that you can be on a sunny winter day.

We had brought all of our creatures along, and so it was that Alex the Alligator, the Moose, Tiny Tiger, and Little Bear sat with us in the sunny woods. The Moose especially loved the mossy logs, where he stood, and sat, and even danced. 

When we brought him home, my husband checked the Moose's paws for mud, which was plentiful there. And ended up sniffing them, somehow. "The Moose came home with mossy paws," my husband said; "Tell the world I said that!" And I replied: "Sniffin' the Paws. That sounds like a great name for a rock band!" So this is how the Moose got his new nickname: Mossy Paws!

I had an Iris Johansen Eve Duncan book that I'd received from the library on one of the last of the Way Fruit Farm locker book drops. I opened it up to read it, and a piece of pink paper fell out, on which were written these words:

"This World Is Not the Whole Story."

I pondered that for a while, and I'll let YOU ponder it too. It's not too often that I receive messages from the Universe, but I'll consider this one of those. Message received, considered, and (somewhat) understood!

And so this is the news from here, and I hope my photos and my stories share the beauties of this gorgeous December day. And the suggestion and perhaps even the promise of other worlds beyond this one. The Universe told me so. . . .

I have two photos and so here are two songs. First is Worlds Away, by the Go-Go's. Second is Between Two Worlds, by Tom Petty, which I think sort of captures it all. Oh, and wait, I've gotta toss this one in because I love it, though in this photo, I'm only a few miles from home: the Hooters, with Peter, Paul, and Mary, singing 500 Miles. 

Song trivia: Hedy West is the original author of the song 500 Miles, also known as the Railroaders' Lament. But did you know that Rob Hyman of the Hooters shares writer credit? Yes, it's for adding his verse about the June 5, 1989, Tienanmen Square incident, in which he emphasizes the power of ONE PERSON to stand up and save the world. Are you brave enough to try?

A hundred tanks along the square,
One man stands and stops them there
Some day soon, the tide will turn, and I'll be free
I'll be free, I'll be free, I'll come home to my country,
Some day soon the tide will turn and I'll be free