HOLIDAYS - 2015 - CHRISTMAS WITH THE SHOOKS / WILDERS

I just watched Eliza drive out the road on her way back to Cincinnati, and the emptiness that accompanies her departure has returned to signal the official end of our holiday time together. 

The Shook / Wilders had a wonderful 10 days together - a lot of time in the car with both kids, very special moments in Boone with Mom and Myra, and another Christmas dinner around the table with Aunt Lera, Richard, and the latest member of the family, Colton Moyer, a young man whom Richard brought home for the first time.

Samuel arrived on Christmas Eve morning. Eliza, Myra and I drove to pick him up in Charlotte where we stopped to have a brief visit with Aunt Linda, my dad's next to youngest sister.  She's a very special aunt, and since we don't gather around the table at Grandma Shook's anymore, having an hour or so with her helped fill that void.

Once we got home and Petie got her long-awaited hugs from Samuel, we decorated Mom's tree.  From her chair, she helped out by letting us know where to hang ornaments. Myra sparkled in her Christmas PJ's.  (She bought some for all of us, and eventually, we looked outfit-coordinated enough for one of those classic holiday family portraits.)

One of the many advantages of having adult children is that no one was up and full of energy at 6:00 AM - with the exception of a corgi who had to go outside to pee at 5:45 AM.  Mac was more certain that Red Wolf has ever been that he saw Santa, so yours truly was out on a walk before anyone (except Mr. Big Ears) thought about moving. All I could see while trying not to wake up completely as I slugged down the street was a happy little corgi butt, sashaying over to the rhododendrons to lift a leg. No Santa in sight!

I think everyone was ready to take it easy on Christmas day. We opened a mountain of gifts, had a couple cups of good coffee, and chilled until preparation time for our late lunch rolled around.  Myra, Eliza, and I were in the kitchen together at various times over the day.  The big debate on whether to have mashed potatoes AND macaroni and cheese was decided; Eliza prepared both, and both were appropriately consumed in their entirety.  Myra fixed the turkey and green beans while I prepared the table, cooked some collard greens, and made fruit salad. With Aunt Lera's rolls and cranberry salad, the Shook / Randalls celebrate Christmas Day together as we have for over 50 years.  It doesn't get much better !

All of us had another three days together before we had to return Samuel to the airport and before Myra headed back to Richmond. A bit of shopping, another good meal with the Randalls, a good long walk in the mountains with the dogs, and the annual University of Kentucky vrs. the Louisville Cardinals filled out the days. Time passed too quickly, but we sure did make some moments last!

Myra returned home Sunday morning after Eliza and I left to take Samuel down to Charlotte to spend the day with Harrison before Samuel headed back to Chicago.  Then yesterday morning Eliza and I packed up all our stuff and two corgis and headed back to the farm.  Tradition holds that she and I celebrate our Christmas once we return from NC, so she found some gifts awaiting her under the tree.  I was elated to find the 2015 Witches Calendar and two bird feeders under it for me! (My list is always an easy one to take care of thanks to Amazon.com.)

So now, I'm here with the corgis until tomorrow when I take off to spend a week with my friend, Laida, and a couple of other friends who are in from Cuba.  I look forward to being around festive Cuban energy for New Year's Eve.  I also hope to be on the beach for a couple of walks, as well as enjoy the outdoors without 10 layers of clothes. 

As I look forward to 2015, I know there will be many wonderful things that unfold in my life, not the least of which is RETIREMENT! I plan on getting my body in shape, traveling as much as my retirement budget will allow, making paper, taking photographs, and doing some "artsy" things.  I also will be honored to spend much more time with my mom during her 96th year.

Moving forward, I can't contemplate the horrendous atrocities and uncivil things that tend to define the world today, so I'll cling to my mantra here at the farm and look for those things that open my heart and make me laugh. 

Join my in putting this on your refrigerator and breathing in the spirit of these words into your life:

I swear I will not dishonor my soul with hatred but offer myself humbly as a guardian of peace, as a creator of beauty, as a healer of misery, as an architect of peace.

Best wishes to all for a wonderful, healthy life in 2015 and beyond!
Namasté

WINTER SOLSTICE - 2014 - AN UNEXPECTED, POWERFUL PASSAGE INTO THE LIGHT

I don’t really know where to begin to tell today’s story, the day of Winter Solstice. The most powerful day of the year. A day of magic. A day of introspection. A return to the light.

Such was my Solstice experience today. I'll tell the story while it's fresh in my mind. I'm going to write it without edit for now, so it may sound a bit disjointed.

But first, I'll  digress for a moment in preparation for what comes later.

In in the past, one of my greatest holiday joys was watching Samuel’s and Eliza’s faces when they walked in the door from school to find each room decked out with greenery and holiday decorations.
 

Over the course of the past week, I putzed around the house and cleaned it top to bottom - literally washing down everything as if I were giving the house a bath in preparation of the Solstice, Christmas holidays, and Eliza's arrival. After the wash-down, I smudged every room from top to bottom and opened the window to release the smoke. Despite my pronouncement that decorations would be minimal this year, once I got started I found it impossible not to place all our family favorites around the cleansed house.  I moved from a good case of "humbuggedness" into celebration rather rapidly.

The other rationale for my busy-ness was to have everything in place for the arrival of the Solstice. I love to have my angels, goddesses, Santas, and candles placed as reminders for the return to the light.  I contemplated all week how I wanted to personally acknowledge the Solstice – what I wanted to include in my wishes and prayers for myself, my family, the Earth and its inhabitants. 

I read the story of the Stag and the Goddess several times, and it resonated in my mind. There's been a lot of deer energy around the farm this fall.  Back in the fall, our big farm buck came to let me know he again claimed the farm his territory this winter season; a friend had two unfortunate encounters with deer on the highway, and almost every morning since the leaves fell, I've watched a herd of the buck's ladies savor chestnuts in the side yard.

The Native American story of the deer as the animal who transformed a nasty ogre's foul energy into kindness is one I used to tell the kids in the car on long trips. I pulled out the animal card book to read the legend again.

My final decoration I made around the house was one for the picnic table outside the living room door.  There I placed a wreath I brought home from Boone at Thanksgiving, along with various antlers I have collected around the farm over the years and some that my cousin, Bill, gave me when I was home. They looked / look beautiful circling a Buddha who sits in the center of the wreath. I wanted the stag and his energy in clear sight for Solstice. 

I got up early this morning, had my coffee, played with the pups a bit, and stretched out to do some yoga with the thought I’d head out for a couple hours in the woods once I limbered up a bit. Mac and MerryBelle were impatient, and their eagerness to get outdoors motivated me to get ready immediately after I finished my practice.  They definitely wanted to me to get a move on.

So in my classic go-to-the-woods outfit, with my binoculars and my walking stick from Grandma Shook’s rhododendron patch in hand, I set out on  a beautiful sunny morning.  As I walked down into the field, the beauty of the flawless blue sky and the agitated squawking of blue jays atop the trees consumed me. Mac and MerryBelle ran spiritedly ahead, stopping to look back and make sure I hadn’t gotten lost in my thoughts along the way.

The Earth and all her creatures fix me.  I always stand in awe of her beauty.  Being on the land calms my spirit, brings me clarity, provides me with answers, defines my peace. I think I get that from my dad.When I am outside, I sense my his and grandma's presence. The Earth completely opens my heart with joy and happiness and transforms my sadness when I need comfort.  Always. Unconditionally. Always.

As we went further toward the woods, the dogs stopped cold in their tracks. At that very same moment, I sensed thrashing movement in the brush by the fence line and spotted a large buck that didn’t stand and bolt as we approached. I knew something was not right.

From the other direction, I saw two men coming across the field - my neighbor and a young man with a bow in hand. Immediately, I knew the buck had been shot, and fury filled my entire being. The Solstice stag - the one in whose eyes I have stared as closely as I have ever been to any wild animal- was dying.  I knew it was him, and I believe he knew I was coming, for he quit thrashing and stretched out to die when he heard my voice.

I screamed in consumed anger at the hunters,  “YOU KNOW YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HUNT ON MY LAND!  WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” And then, I couldn’t control my sorrow. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t save the animal, so I sat down beside him. I placed my hands on his body and cried uncontrollably. (One of the hunters acknowledged he saw the buck quit fighting life when the animal heard my voice.)

My neighbor came over to comfort me, to tell me he had watched the animal all morning.  He said the big guy was sick and had been staggering around in repetitive circles in the field in front of his house.  My neighbor had watched the animal lose his footing, fall several times and  tremble violently several as if in a seizure; he had been close enough to it to see that one eye was badly infected and gangrenous. He had decided to end the animal’s misery, and when he shot the buck, it immediately turned, jumped the fence line and crossed the field onto my land. Having lived my life with a hunter, I understood. My dad's voice told me the man had done the right thing.

By then, I had the buck’s head in my hands, and I gently caressed his soft head and ears as he moved toward spirit. His white muzzle reflected his age, as his eyes indicated his illness. What had once been haunches of strong muscle were showing signs of emaciation. Yes, his passage would bring him release from whatever was ravaging his body.

He died with my hands on his head. I was on my knees hunched over him, whispering to him, comforting him.  Mac stayed glued to my side, as if to guard the sacred space from which the buck would leave us and take flight into spirit. MerryBelle instinctively returned home to stand guard there. All I could do was thank this incredible animal, our stag - the lord of the farm fields - for coming home to take flight.

While I stayed with the stag, the hunters went for a truck to carry him away.  They promised to bury him, for we agreed his meat was not fit for consumption given his obvious sickness. I helped them load him and allowed him to go with them with the promise his head would not be mounted on the wall; he would be buried respectfully.

Mac and I then went into the woods and stayed for a while

I know there’s a greater message in all of this for me.  It’ll come to me in time. I don't sense fear or an omen of bad energy surrounding today's event. Rather, I am very grateful I was witness to this amazing animal as he began his journey of rebirth. He has been the core of masculine energy at the farm for over a decade now. My mom assures me there is a reason for this to unfold as it did.

While I am somewhat quieted at heart this afternoon, I am not mournful.  The big buck's legacy continues....the products of his union with his many does roam the fields....the next generation takes charge....I have seen them, and I am blessed.

Godspeed...

(photo:  Bruce Lane)

FUNGI

 

It's been a while since I've visited my blog, I see.  Yesterday's walk, however, brought it back to mind as I took photo after photo of the various fungi the corgis and I discovered in the back woods. With Mac and MerryBelle choosing the path, we walked along the creek bed and took time to look around us for surprises.  Here's what we found:

 

 

 

Chicken of the Woods - edible, supposedly tastes like chicken, but everything from turtle meat to frog legs  supposedly tastes like chicken. 

 

Turkey Tail - greened by the moisture of the nearby creek

 

No idea, but if I hadn't slipped off this log, I wouldn't have seen this and a couple of other little clulsters.

 

 

 More Turkey Tails - the log where these grew was about 12' long, and they ran the distance from one end of the log to the other.

 

No idea what the official name of this mushroom is, but I love the underside more than the top. 

 

 

As we headed out of the woods, who should greet us but Black Cow, CEO of the local Corgi Cologne manufacturing plant.  You can see several employees of the factory on break in the background.  Both Mac and MerryBelle have tested their products and are urging me to buy stock in this fragrance.  I think, however, I'll invest elsewhere - most likely in doggie shampoo and a doggie hair dryer!

 

 



SHOUT OUT TO CHRISTY VELADOTA AS SHE LAUNCHES HER BLOG: maybesopoetry

Here at Namasté, we're giving a shout out to a member of the farm family as she launches her new blog:

http://maybesopoetry.com/

Christy is an amazing woman - mother, poet, teacher, friend, creative spirit.  I hope you'll follow her!

TANYA, TANYA, HARDLY EVER CONTRARY, HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? (PART 1: A MISCELLANEOUS BEGINNING)

As the corgis and I took our morning walk about 6:30 AM, my trusty camera tagged along in my pocket.  There are many things, both wild and domesticated, in bloom around the farm now. It'll take more than one blog post to record them, I'm sure. Come along and take the walk with me.

 

 

My favorite zinnia - pale pink, delicate, feminine.  A heirloom from a variety pack I bought in NC. 

 

 

I tossed zinnia seeds in the cold frame at the end of the deck in late spring, knowing that I'd have some volunteer four-o'clocks there as well.  Oddly, the only four-o'clocks that came up are the brilliant fuschia ones, a beautiful backdrop for the pastel zinnias.

 

I frequently contemplate taking the gargantuan Rose of Sharon bush out since it occupies a large portion of the fence line space in the side yard. However, when it flowers and plays host to numerous hummingbirds and butterflies, I always reconsider.

All the Nicotiana on the farm is volunteer.  Along with milkweed, these blossoms provide an strong, sweet evening perfume that wafts all around the farm.  One of my favorite parts of the day is sundown on the deck, where I sit and contemplate the day while savoring the sweet fragrances of these elegant, delicate blooms.

 

Coneflowers abound in various places around the farm.  Plans for the fall are to clean out and separate the lilies, coneflowers, tansy, and various other flowers in this bed come fall. 

 

Remind me that I don't need to scatter handfuls of cleome seeds all over my flower beds next year.  If anyone wants seed, just give me a jingle!

 

When I walked out this morning three hummingbirds were vying for these hosta blossoms.

 

My orchids love vacationing outside during the summer in the shade of the corner maple tree.  They reap the benefit of its cover and summer humidity there.  I watch them carefully to ensure little spiders don't have a feast on the leaves.

 

 

Coleus grows alongside of the orchids.  I found this neat, sturdy bread display rack at Rink's for $5.00, and it's the best for housing the orchids in the summer. Six of eleven orchids are currently in bloom; the oncidiums will flower along about December or January.  I have now idea about the dendrobium.  I'm just not successful with them.

 

I'll share sunflowers and lilies in subsequent posts, and as other things open up, you'll see them here on Namasté in time. Welcome to the garden tour, farm style!



TANYA, TANYA, HARDLY EVER CONTRARY, HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? (PART 2)

With pretty lilies, mostly all in a row.  All of these, save the fifth one down, are ones I brought to the farm from Boone.  I purchased them from the Farmer's Market there, and they've flourished here at the farm.  It's hard to get a good photo of them in the row that's planted in my side yard, so I feature them here individually.  I have three more varieties that are yet to open, so soon they're feature in a post by themselves. 

 

It'll be soon time to divide these beauties - perhaps after next year's blooms.  If anyone's interested in a few starts, let me know.  You can come for a visit and take some home.

 

 

TANYA, TANYA, HARDLY EVER CONTRARY, HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? (PART 3: MORE SUNFLOWERS)

 

With glorious sunflowers, not necessarily in rows, but all over the farm.

As the sun hit this one squarely in the face this morning, the drop of sunflower juice sparkled in its rays like a diamond.

Shaded at the moment but turning its face to the sun.

 



An heirloom varietal, Evening Surprise (I think), this deep maroon beauty is one I started from seed and planted as a spindly, gangly little plant that I wasn't sure would flourish.  This is the first bloom of four plants that survived an unexpected cold snap and corgis traipsing through the flower bed.  I love it!

 



 

I know, I know....I should (and will) keep record of the names of the flowers I plant, especially the heirlooms.  This soft lemony and multi-flowered beauty is a volunteer from an heirloom I started last summer.  One of my favorites, it's really more of a soft, pastel yellow - very delicate and prolific.

 

Sunflower and silo - both in awe of the flawless sky.

 

I believe I might have a cross-breed in this flower.  I have a variety that has a deep reddish-brown circle around the seed center.  If I am accurate in my hypothesis, this slightly circled flower could be a cross between my lemony yellow heirloom and its friend with the darker centered circle.  (I failed to get a photo of that one in this batch of images, regretfully.)

Two different varieties growing side by side, both volunteers from last year's seeds.  I will, yes I will, take notes of their names once I get back into my seed stash.

 

As I was taking photos this morning of all these happy flowers, I stopped to watch the number of pollinators that were busy on the plants.  I saw numerous bees of all sizes, along with other insects who shared the pollen.  And at this very moment as I type this, a female goldfinch is perched on one of the flowers within an arm's length of my chair. 

 

I invite everyone to enjoy these glorious flowers and plant some of your own.  At the very moment I type this, a pair of goldfinches are eating from a plant within an arm's length.

WOW !!!!!

SUNFLOWERS & MILKWEED

I'm always amazed when people have really strong opinions about which flowers are pretty and which aren't, what makes a beautiful flower garden, what sort of flower garden meets the prerequisites for local garden tours, etc. I recently learned sunflowers aren't a favorite of a friend of mine. Shortly thereafter, I listened to this same person voice her shock that a couple of gardens on the local tour lacked mulch and had milkweed growing in them.  OMG!

 

I happen to love sunflowers. I love their color.  I love their many varieties. I love the way they bow to the sun, shifting in direction to honor it as travels from east to west over the course of the day.  I love watching goldfinches perch on the huge flowers to feed on their seeds.  I also like to munch on the seeds.  I love their name in Spanish - girasoles.  Ask me to extol their virtues, and I can provide a list a mile long.  (Of course, I'm not the sort of gardener who gets uptight when the wind takes them down or when the weight of a gigantic seedy head hits the earth.)

 

 

 

 I'm also a huge fan of mildweed (asclepias incarnata).  Yesterday afternoon, when I returned home from a short trip to NC, I rolled down my windows to get a whiff of its intoxicating, sweet aroma. The dogs and I later took a walk around the back field, and I counted 20+ different species of dragonflies, butterflies, and colorful bugs hanging out on the fragrant, mauve milkweed balls. And yes, if milkweed didn't naturally surround me in every direction, I'd plant some in my flower beds.  I think they're beautiful!

 



 

If we didn't have milkweed and other "weeds," we wouldn't have monarch butterflies and other species who need this unique plant in their lives. Carl Linnaeus named the genus after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, because of the many folk-medicinal uses for the milkweed plants.  (Google) In further defense of its worthiness, milkweed's bast fibers make a beautiful paper.  The fiber is strong, and when I prepare pulp with milkweed, it cooperates better than other "weeds" in bonding with other base fibers. As a kid, my cousins and I would pretend the sticky juice from the plant was Elmer's Glue, and we would make collages from flowers in the field on old barn boards or river rocks.  

 

In a couple of weeks, I'm going to invite the person who was astounded at milkweed in a flower garden over for dinner.  We'll take a glass of wine and walk down into the lower field.  Perhaps when she passes the sunflower patch, she'll be fanned by the breeze of goldfinches taking flight from the "girasoles" and become bedazzled by the brilliant colors of the monarchs and other butterflies hanging on the milkweed.  Maybe, just maybe, she'll catch on.....

 

 

".....SOME ARE SILVER -- THE OTHERS GOLD...."

Doug Sweet and Paulette Hall are moving to Florida.  I can hardly believe it.

Over the years, we have all known the time would come when the conversation of the "how and where of retirement" would morph from words and dreams into reality. That time is here, and I feel shear delight for these two dear friends as they head to the Sunshine State.  I also feel huge waves of nostalgia as memories of life over the years with them and a close circle of friends surface.

It's hard to fathom.  I met Doug thirty-four years ago shortly after Sam Wilder and I moved to Marietta. At the time, he and his wife, Sally Johnson, lived out on Bear Creek with their three young children. They were back-to-the-land hippies, and Doug had set up his glass blowing studio just outside the farmhouse where the kids played in the yard and explored the woods on the far side of the old barn. My first visit to their farm was for Cathy Rees's birthday. I distinctly remember the cake Sally decorated with wild sweet pea flowers for the occasion. That evening we danced in the barn, and I realized there was a group of folks gathered there whom I wanted to get to know better:  Ann and Mike Trembly and their three children; Jack Ford and Sue Boyer; Sherm and Caroline Koons; Geraldine Plato and Gary Goosman; Michael Stewart and Judith Angelo; Ron and Cathy Rees.

I was fascinated by the alternative life these friends had fashioned: combinations of those folks who lived together, attended the births of each other's children, gardened together, and traveled from craft show to craft show together for years.  Artists, mid-wives, social workers, they were my kind of folk.

Years go by; and change happens. Children grow up; more children arrive. Relationships drift in different directions.  Second marriages expand the friend base. Divorces inevitably redefine  dynamics. Folks move away; some come back. Others take early flight into the world of spirit and live now in our hearts and memories. We've all woven new a fabric and definition to our lives.

But, a constant during the decades has always been the farm on Bear Creek, Doug and Paulette's home - - a gathering place for sweat lodges, water balloon parties, New Year's Eve gatherings, potlucks, fire circles, and the rebuilding of Doug's studio after it burned to the ground. Paulette's great sense of beauty and art blossomed in the farm house and yard, and ultimately, their new dwelling down the road from the farm house became a showcase for her incredible eye and talent.

Doug and Paulette may be one of the most amazing couples I've ever known. No relationship is without its moments, but these two have raised four amazing children, cared for their parents, traveled to distant places, worked and created together very successfully, and manifested an admirable life filled with art and experience.

Yesterday, a small group of us hung out together as Doug and Paulette had a yard/moving sale. I think we all had a similar unspoken realization - that the afternoon was one of the last we would have together on Bear Creek.  It was a very special time.

 

(Pictured here:  front row:  Sue / second row: Ann Trembly, Paulette Hall, Doug Sweet / In the back:  Mike Trembly, Shila Wilson, Sue Boyer)

 

(And here: Sue, Mike, Ann, Doug, Tanya & Paulette)

 

 

You know, it's not like I see these folks with the same sort of frequency like when we were younger and involved in similar projects. But, there's always the security in knowing they're just across the river. As I experience intermittent pangs of "letting go," I console myself with the thought that Dougie and P. will be within an hour's reach of Fort Lauderdale, my frequent airport when I go to Miami. Chances are I'll see them on a semi-regular basis, and that eases the angst of their departure quite a bit. But still.......

 

The old Girl Scout song recycles in my mind this morning:  "make new friends, but keep the old...some are silver and the others, gold." Man, am I ever blessed!

 

 



SUMMER PHOTOS - June 26, 2014

 

 

Side yard Buddha, always content, loves the shade of the spreading chestnut trees and her daylily backdrop.

 

 

 

Mac illustrates the fine art of "porch settin'."

 

 



 

Green leaves shelter the maturing flower, opening soon and giving birth to a brilliant yellow sunflower.

 

 



 

 

Purple lilies here at the farm always look a little "gangly" but glorious.

 

 

 

 

Burgundy geraniums flowers gracefully host raindrops after a healthy summer shower.

 

 

This double peach-colored lily shares the same roots as a single varietal on the other side of the plant.  Since the side yard is becoming so incredibly shady, the lilies might be in the market for a sunnier spot on the farm.

MIDSUMMER CORGI MAGIC

 

The Fairy Saddle

Long, long ago in the days of yore,
It might've been sooner, or not before,
Along a mountain track there came,
A gallant Corgi of quite some fame.
And there beside the track he spied
A maiden fair, who to him cried,
"Oh kindly Corgi, here my plea;
I've fallen off my horse you see.
And so before you further roam
Would you, please sir, take me home?"
So said the Corgi, "I do confess;
How could I leave you in distress?
So climb upon my back fair maid
I'll take you home as you have bade."
And so the Corgi started forth;
"My home's a castle to the north."
They journeyed there, and at her door
She cried, "I should have said before,
I'm a fairy princess sir, you see,
And for you kindness to me,
I'll leave upon your back
All traces of the fairy tack."
And till this day you still can find
The fairy's saddle to remind,
How the Corgi helped the princess fair,
And just as well for You will care.
~Anonymous

 

The Corgi Legend
By Anne Biddlecombe
Would you know where corgis came from?
How they came to live with mortals?
On the mountains of the Welsh-land in its green and pleasant valleys, Lived the peasant folk of old times,
Lived our fathers and grandfathers;
And they toiled and laboured greatly with their cattle and their Ploughing, that their women might have plenty.
And their children journeyed daily with the kine upon the mountain, Seeing that they did not wander,
Did not come to any mischief,
While their fathers ploughed the valley and their mothers made the cheeses.

'Til one day they found two puppies
Found them playing in a hollow, playing like a pair of fox-cubs.
Burnished gold their coat and colour,
Shining like a piece of satin -
Short and straight and thick their fore-legs, and their heads like a fox's
But their eyes were kind and gentle;
Long of body these dwarf-dogs and without a tail behind them.

Now the children stayed all day there,
And they learned to love the dwarf-dogs, shared their bread and water with them, took them home with them even.
Made a cosy basket for them,
Made them welcome in the kitchen,
Made them welcome in the homestead.

When the men came home at sunset, saw them lying in the basket,
Heard the tale the children told them, how they found them on the mountain, found them playing in the hollow -
They were filled with joy and wonder and said it was a fairy present,
Was a present from the wee folk, for their fathers told a legend
How the fairies kept some dwarf-dogs.
Called them Corgis - Fairy heelers:
Made them work the fairy cattle, Made them pull the fairy coaches,
Made them steends for fairy riders,
Made them fairy children's playmates;
Kept them hidden in the mountains,
Kept them hidden in the mountains shadow,
Lest the eye of mortal see one.

Now the Corgis grew and prospered,
And the fairies' life was in them, in the lightness of their movement,
In the quickness of their turning,
In their badness and their goodness.
And they learnt to work for mortals,
Learnt to love their mortal masters,
Learnt to work their masters' cattle,
Learnt to play with mortal children.

Now in every vale and hamlet, in the valleys and the mountains,
From the little town of Tenby, by the Port of Milford Haven,
To St. David's Head and Fishguard, in the valley of the Cleddau,
On the mountains of Preselly,
Lives the Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi,
Lives the Corgi with his master.

Should you doubt this ancient story,
Laugh and scoff and call it nonsense, look and see the saddle markings where the fairy warriors rode them (As they ride them still at midnight, on Midsummer's Eve at midnight,
When the mortals are all sleeping! )

 

 

 

 

(Note:  Images used in this post came from the internet without specific credits there.  Namasté respectfully honors those who produced the images and will certainly credit the artists if anyone can identify them for us.)

 

 

If one has lived with corgis, then he/she recognizes a very magical quality about them. Incredibly intelligent, they are loyal to family and home, and their voices project in the mind of those humans they love as if they were speaking aloud.  I'm sure that could be said of any dog, but I do believe the corgis' protective nature and playful spirit comes from their connection with and love of the fairies.  One only need watch MerryBelle in the woods as she ventures from tree to tree and stands quietly at each, as if in conversation with the Little Ones. She's always in sentry mode, aware of anything that encroaches. She is the guardian of our home, of the fields, and of the woods - anywhere the fairies dwell. 

 

 

 

   Mac's fairy saddle changes color with the seasons - in summer, it sheds to white while in the winter, it takes on a deep reddish-brown hue. He reaches deep relaxation when I massage his shoulders / upper back, for it is there where the fairies saddle him for a ride around the woods.

I'd imagine his stockiness and soft coat lend for a comfy ride for the fairy folk.  Whether or not he takes to the reins is up for speculation! He's famous for going in the direction he chooses regardless of commands.

 

 

 

Appropriately, at 6:35 AM this morning, Mac woke me and insisted I get up and go out doors with him.  The magic of the Midsummer moment stirred him to greet the day. MerryBelle followed close behind and stopped at the base of the side yard chestnut trees to greet the little folk.  Both paying homage to their ancestry...both feeling the energy of Summer Solstice....both ready to hang with the fairies.