The Bliss wallpaper from Windows XPSpring is just around the corner. I can feel it. In fact, I’d have to say that watching the world change is one of the fringe benefits of writing this weblog. I have a routine on most mornings and when I write my weblog entry, I sit at the kitchen table. I bang it out on the Dana Alphasmart Wireless and as I look up to ponder my next thought, I can look out the bay windows that overlook our backyard and the pasture behind it. The view reminds me of the Bliss Wallpaper found on Windows XP machines. You know the one with the green hill and blue sky behind it? It’s not exact, but the pasture behind my house reminds me of that and I have to admit, I do feel blissfull looking at it.

Right now the trees are still stripped bare of their leaves. The wind kicks up and the trees shake as if waving their fists demanding that their clothing of soft green leaves be returned immediately. “Where I my leaves?!”, they shout. To whom I don’t know, but they’re tired of being naked, that’s for sure. Behind the trees lies the pasture, which is one big hill that stretches up until it’s bathed in the blue of the sky. From my perspective, clouds can drift behind it like boats sailing behind a levee. For the first time in a long while the hill looks green. It’s been brown for so long, seeing the green is a bit of a surprise. Although it didn’t appear overnight, it seems like it has.


Seeing the green instantly reminds me of Ireland. I’ve never seen anything so green in all my life. I suppose it’s apropos that I should think of this with St. Patrick’s Day being tomorrow. 🙂 The green of the grass seeps into my mind and paints my memories of Ireland and the early days of my bicycle tour of Europe. It was the start of the tour and everything was new and fresh. I was in the worst pain in my life, but I can’t remember much of that now. What I do recall is the green. Everywhere you looked things were green. I never knew there were so many shades of it!

As one of the new calves runs down the hill, I’m pulled back to the here and now. Several of the cows in the pasture have given birth recently and their newborns are as spry as ponies. They are so young and have not put on the girth that will be with them the rest of their lives, so the run like small horses up and down the hill. They aren’t running to anything, or away from anything, they’re just running for the sake of running. Some of the “teenager” cows try to keep up, as if they remember their youth and long to run like the kids do, but alas they cannot. So the small ones dash back an forth amongst themselves until finally, tuckered out, the sit down on the hill next to their mothers. Although attentive, the rest of the herd has never skipped a beat as they chew their way across the pasture.

The farmer that owns the land, has more property than I can see from my perch inside the house. For this reason the cows aren’t always there. There’s been weeks where they’ve been grazing in other fields and I haven’t seen hide, nor hair of them. The view is still nice, but I much prefer it when they are there. There’s something calmly reassuring when sound of my tapping keys is broken by a loud “Mooooo” coming off the pasture. It always makes me smile.

Who would have thought that something so benign as my kitchen table could be such a sanctuary for my writing? Heck, just over a year ago, I never would have thought of myself as a writer, so the whole thing is a surprise to me! LOL Yet most mornings you’ll find me sitting here typing away. My view out the bay window is much like the view out of a ship and I’m the pilot. Yet instead of navigating my way through the sea, or sky, I’m sailing thorough the thoughts in my mind. Instead of the North Star to act as my way point, I have baby calves and angry trees demanding their leaves. These way points ground me in where I am right now and help me to focus on where I want to be. Slowly I’m finding my way, but I don’t know that I’ll ever reach a port, nor do I wish to.