Silver
There is a north of England saying, "cast not a clout til the may is out." It means, don't cast off your winter coat until the may tree is in flower, and at the moment our may trees show not the slightest sign of life, which is no wonder. The saying implies that the may tree knows when winter is over better than we do, but right now there is no doubt about it: grey skies, whipping rain, squalls of powerful wind bending the trees, and temperatures touching zero. This is nothing compared with the 20 below and three foot of snow they have in Ontario at the moment, but for here in central France it is rather forbidding. Nonetheless I do try to get out and get some air each day. Today I was in a far field when the heavens opened and I sought what shelter I could from a thorn bush. Standing there as the elements whistled around was rather magical. The cascading rain shimmered with silver light and the glint of sun when it came seemed a miracle of gentleness after the violence of the squall.
Walnut
Back in the warm kitchen, Elja is baking a delicious smelling cake, dark with molasses and packed with walnuts grown on our own trees. Adam appears periodically with basketfuls of cut wood to put in the stove to drive away the cold that bustles in whenever the back door comes open. On top of our kitchen stove we have one of those wonderful fans that distributes the hot air around the room very effectively. It is entirely powered by the heat of the stove that it sits upon - a neat modern invention that one of our neighbours put me on to. The cake, now out of the oven, sits temptingly, cooling on a griddle on the kitchen table. I don't suppose it will last long once we cut it.
Blood
This week my blood numbers, as declared by the paper that arrives in the post from the lab, were where they should be. My anti-K factor is 2.5 which is exactly right for my treatment - the first time it has been. I wonder if it will stay that way. However, I now also have some swelling in the more affected leg. I hope that goes down naturally. I have become sensitive to every little change where, before i went into hospital, I was blasé even about major symptoms. No doubt there is a middle path. The normal healthy person has an anti-K factor around 1 so 2.5 represents a substantial thinning. If I prick my finger on a thorn and taste the blood it is certainly much thinner than usual, but not so much so as not to clot at all. It is all a matter of getting the right balance.
Stars
Even on these dark grey days it is a privilege to live here in the midst of nature, close to the natural elements, aware of the stars at night and the stages of growth of the plants now still hiding from winter yet preparing for spring. In the evening, Charlene contacts me and interviews me via skype for a podcast for her website. I enthuse about the life here poised between nature and divinity, Buddhas and home made bread. Although where we are is pretty remote, and in some ways we live as if in the middle ages, the technology of the modern world does enable us to be in contact with good friends all over the planet and that is surely a great blessing.
Replies
The swelling has gone down, but not totally. Namo Amida Bu.