After posting the description of the desk where I wrote my journal from about ‘82 to ‘98, I thought I would do a description of where I write now. I’m sitting on the right side of a small denim-covered couch, with my dog next to me. My journal notebook is on a lap pad. There’s a second couch at right angles, and a table between which is covered with another miscellany of objects, not nearly so interesting as on my Grandmother’s desk. There are books, a box of kleenex, a jar full of pens. I look out the glass doors to an unfinished patio of big stones. To the right, almost out of view, are three big chunks of granite, with flat sides, they are set up as a table and benches. At the end of the table is a statue of Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. On the left of my view are two poles intended for bird feeders. I’ve hung many feeders there in the past, and the bears got every one. Now I just toss scoops of seed out on to the snow. What’s fun about that is the chickadees and squirrels can eat at the same time. The bears have ignored this year’s hummingbird feeder, but alas so far, the hummingbirds have too. I’ve seen one there only twice. Through those windows I have seen chickadees, bluejays, juncos, the occasional goldfinch, wild turkeys, squirrels and chipmunks. Once I saw a fox. This time of year I see rabbits, and the bears too when they deign to visit me. I had a mother with three cubs several days ago. There are wooden windchimes hanging on the second pole, they make a lovely mellow sound.
In the house, out of the picture to the left, is my masonry stove. It operates on the same principle as a Russian fireplace. You build one big fire in the morning, let it burn flat out which is the most efficient way to burn wood. The hot gases circulate in a flue that goes all the way around the stove, and the heat is transferred to the stone which then radiates it slowly for the rest of the day. When I get up in the morning it’s still warm. I have loved living with it.
