Watching or experiencing life

This morning I sat and ate breakfast as I often do, sitting on the patio watching the sun rise. It is always a special moment and when the clouds allow, the sun rises from behind distant mountains and the clouds turn many colours. I don't mediate as such but sitting peacefully, listening to the dawn chorus of birds and watching the natural world awaken makes me feel close to nature.

Last week Tim and I visited the Cathedral at Santiago and we were both struck by the apparent devotion of a young man kneeling penitently in front of the alter. Upon closer inspection we could see that he was filming the alter on a camera for some time. As ever there are few visitors there sitting in contemplation, most are chatting loudly whilst taking snaps of everything. Modern life seems to require that life should be experienced through a camera or television screen. An experience has to be validated by others, you have to show your pictures to the whole world on Facebook, you have to film everything or it is valueless.

How damaging this attitude is.... putting the screen between us and the world. We experience everything second hand and in safety, wrapped in cotton wool and unaware of the planet around us. Paul Kingsnorth says it so much better than I ever can here

It is so easy to let the damage to the planet and our society go on unchecked when all we see is what we are meant to see through a screen. More people need to go out into the world and look for themselves, get cold, get wet, kill an animal for food with your own hands, grow a carrot, pick the blackberries and taste them, this is real life....every little helps.

Nose back to the grindstone

Tim has gone back to the UK to look for his next contract so I am alone again for the first time in 2 months. It seems awfully quiet but I am looking forward to getting stuck in again to the mountains of work which have been put on the back-burner while I had family staying here. Current animal statistics are 34 ducks, 4 turkeys, 19 rabbits, 15 chickens, 2 goats and 1 demanding cat.

The whole place needs a bit of a deep clean, stables need to be cleaned again, tons of apples, pears and figs to be picked and preserved. Not to mention the overgrown vegetable garden, watering the new trees and the general household tasks including jam and chutney making. It will soon be time to start the Yule preparations as well, mincemeat to be made, puddings and cakes to be baked. There are still sunny days here but a nip in the air and a decrease in the numbers of flies (hurrah). The year is turning still and Autumn is upon us but each season has it's pleasures.

Hard work

Our latest batch of chicks were hatched under a puzzled duck who was a model parent for the first couple of days but she swiftly lost interest when the chicks became noisy and undisciplined. One of them had problems from the start. It was very noisy and seemed to have its head stretched over its back and was uncoordinated running in clumsy circles and falling over a lot. My daughter and I hand fed it and kept it in an incubator for a few days. It is very difficult to know whether to let nature take its course and watch something die over time or whether to intervene, either to humanely kill or feed as we did.   

She was called Chicca, she became very tame, she got much stronger and progressed to spending days with the other chicks and feeding herself as her neck straightened and balance improved. Eventually she lived with the other chicks permanently. Unfortunately one day she and another chick broke out of the stables through a tiny hole at the bottom of the door when we were out and she was killed, probably by a duck. Not a good outcome but we felt we had given her a chance. Sometimes that is all you can give them.

The hard work continues. We have finally had our fire wood delivery. Catherine and I managed to load it all into the shed in a day and a half. We should be warm all winter.