SEASONAL LAYERS IN TIME

This was only the first layer of snow!

The old pueblo graveyard in the ruined compound of the original San Geronimo church always draws my attention. The graveyard is covered now by a snow blanket and its occupants thus beneath both snow and earth. For some reason this seems to place them into timeless repose. It was Friday that we went to the pueblo to check the condition of PQ’s ancestral home. Not too bad! But, that was yesterday and it has been snowing ever since.   Here in town we had to take the big ladder from the garage so that Corey could get on the roof and de-snow TV and internet dishes. There is no way that PQ could spend an entire weekend or
possibly longer without TV.

Jump to Sunday Morning. It snowed all night, and yet it is melting at the same time, thus hard to tell how many inches actually fell, there are more than 12 inches that survived. George kitty is bored and this is bad. He is looking everywhere for entertainment. He tried to kill my turkey feather fan hanging in the living room and after that began chasing Shadow around the house; finally, he took to rearranging the magazines on the shelf under the coffee table. He is an extremely intelligent cat and that makes him sometimes difficult to live with. He continually finds new ways to get into trouble; ways we hadn’t thought of.  I have one of those laser light toys. You can guide it all over the house and the cat will chase it.  George figured out a long time ago that this light was uncatchable and now responds only when he’s truly desperate for action. Anyway, I tried it and it worked for a little while, then he looked at me with that, “I’m only humoring you because you won’t let me do anything else look,” and quit responding.

It occurred to me this morning that one of the fantasies I used to turn to when bored at work was being snowbound in a mountain cabin with just my books and writing material. I later updated it to include a laptop. I would shovel a path to the woodpile and outhouse and the rest of the time, I would read and write. I actually had just that arrangement for a few months during my 18^th year with the addition of a piano and Joker my Labrador retriever. However, that time we didn’t have much food in the house and my parents had to rescue us.  There was no telephone, so they responded intuitively and with a truck when it became obvious that the snow wasn’t going to stop and I wouldn’t be able to get out with my little 66' Valliant sedan. Since then, I’ve added some provisions and a 4-wheel drive to the fantasy.

George and the ladder. Notice you can't see the Chamisa bush.

Now I entertain myself with images of a small but adequate house in Cottonwood. Intuition tells me that this isn’t going to manifest right away, but experience tells me that whenever I imagine something over a period of time, it does come about. 

However, despite the desire to resume what we started in Cottonwood, this winter is exactly right. We aren’t going out more than three times a week for the mail, the rest of the time we have been inside and under the radar. Covered in earth and snow I’m probably preparing for a rebirth. The seeds that lie beneath the snow are going to be a mystery until they sprout.  I can hardly wait to discover what chooses to take root. The conditions are good for a new season. Despite the extreme and sometimes harsh nature of Taos, it seems more balanced than say the eastern and southeastern part of the country. I have a premonition about that but it isn’t time to turn it into words. Every act of nature has its own timing.