Moss Whispers

Down at the bottom of the meadow past The Hillock at the edge of the treeline, is one of my favorite places to go! It’s my ‘wannabe moss farm’ where the moss whispers and where the moss tender listens with an eager ear. I love to be near it and listen as well. The light show that accompanies the whole symphony of sounds is equally as compelling to the eye. The palate of colors changes in an instant as the light dances on the cushy floor. And I get to marvel at it all! I love to close my eyes and feel the different textures! The Hillock is also covered with mosses, but somehow, this moss seems to speak the loudest to me! The best kept secret of the meadow! Shhh…listen! and enjoy!

Most of my visits to The Hillock are in the daytime, between dawn and twilight. So I don’t see any Twig People that are down on the ground exploring and going on various adventures. Yet when I look up, I can see hints that they are there, waiting for their time on earth from twilight to dawn. It’s hard to see their heads but their ‘limbs’ are pretty clearly visible. The only movement I see is rhythmic swaying with the breezes.

I’m wondering if the Twig People will show up as characters in the stories of The Hillock as well? I’m feeling very impatient and eager to know how this story and the characters will evolve!   I also wonder if I should come to The Hillock at night and see what’s happening then? At around twilight, I DO hear a couple of owls talking through the darkening skies. Hmmm… 

I’m so grateful when characters continue to present themselves in life until I finally pay attention! Today, our grandson, Oliver ate his first, and hopefully only SLUG. On the phone (FaceTime), he seemed quite proud at age 13 months with his accomplishment. Of course his mom and I did the google-proper thing and researched ‘slug-eating’ for any potential toxic effects. While I was researching, I thought I’d makes some notes about these creatures! They are hermaphrodites, able to reproduce with or without a partner, thus able to procreate exact likenesses of themselves, or ‘branch out’ to expand their gene pool a bit. And as far as I know, there are no laws banning samesex marriage, uni-sex marriage, etc. in the slug world.

They basically slide around on one muscular ‘foot’…takes me back to the character Lowly Worm. And they are nocturnal, except on overcast, rainy days. Their ‘slime’ provides both a road to slide upon, and a sticky substance that can even hold them onto something upside down. Moisture is important to their existence. They eat everything from our treasured plants, to manure, and more!

 Another interesting tidbit is that in terms of eating a slug. American Indians found that they could manifest slight hallucinogenic results. Also, the slime can be numbing to the mouth, causing brief neurologic 

So how would this Slug character be? I know the one I found was about 3 1/2 inches long, grey, with mottles of black on his back. When he stretched out his body he could practically reach 4 inches in length. That’s all for now!

As I’ve further explored The Hillock and its Meadow neighbors, some tiny flowers keep showing their faces as well! This little lady seems to be ‘following me’ on my walks, and getting much bolder in her appearances. Here she is in the grasses that surround The Hillock! She’s quite tall, slender and strikingly graceful! I’m not sure if she is just one flower that I see following me, or some of her sisters as well! I introduce to you through photographs, Spiral Lady Tresses! Or is she Nodding Lady Tresses? Truthfully, I’m not yet clear on what she prefers to be called. What I DO know is that she will provide quite a lesson for me on painting ‘negative space’ or whatever that process is called by ‘real painters’!

Today was quite amazing! Francklin and Lacy, our Springers, romped in the rain with me down to The Hillock. As usual, I quietly strolled the CobbleStoneWay, keeping an eye out for any pieces of the unfolding mysteries of this magical place. Frogs, caterpillars, snakes, and a turtle or two here and there are a few from the past. Today I could hear a few feeble cricket sounds and a bird warble here and there, but nothing that struck me. Until…  I came to The Castle of the Heart. One part of the castle had fallen, and I didn’t see the iron fairy girl anywhere. As I looked more closely, I saw her legs upside down between two cliffside rocks. I quickly rescued her, rebuilt the rock platform, and re established the fallen castle turrets. To my surprise, when I lifted one of the stones, there was a very large slug. I marveled at its grey colors and slimy skin, carefully avoiding touching or smushing it as I replaced the rock and fairy. What happened next, actually, is what surprised me…the large slug began to slime up the replaced turrets, and seemed either to be kissing the fairy or whispering into her ear! I actually got their interaction on camera! And I PROMISE, I am not making this up! Nor did I stage any of this! I just kept clicking my cellphone camera button as fast as I could so that I wouldn’t miss a thing!

Truly, I see forms and faces everywhere! I remember once having some neurological tests done 3 years ago to check my ‘brain’ to see if my chronic Lyme disease was causing inflammation in my brain. The whole series of tests lasted for 7 hours! By the end of the process, I don’t know who felt the most crazed, me? or the woman that was testing me? When I returned to learn from the results, the neuropsychologist had very positive things to say about my intelligence, and very much agreed that it took a huge amount of my energy to stay focused on the tasks at hand. Though I was able to do them, I think it took me about three days to recover! One question she was curious about was when I said that I saw images and could hear different voices. I explained that the voices were  characters in my books and that everything I saw seemed to have many ways to be seen or interpreted.  She seemed relieved to hear my explanation and ready to help me cope with the challenges of Lyme to my central nervous system.

This ‘pig’ looking at me from the bark of a tree is just one example of the characters just waiting to be discovered and allowed to have their voice. I’m thinking that many of these ‘characters’ might appear in the story about The Hillock, which is in ‘the works’.

As I debrief from working with the Twigs at Twilight and let them sit on their branches for a rest, I’m back to walking the meadow, living my life as it goes, and listening to the MossWhispers that come my way. Part of my listening comes through my eyes as well. On my way up from the Hillocks (for there are many in the meadow), I usually make my final winded steps over the roots of a large oak tree near our house. As on many tree trunks, wooden floors, and just about any rough surface, I see faces…and each face immediately shares part of its story. Most of these stories roll around in my own head, and perhaps sift through my own facial expressions. Here are just a few. 

The hole where the skink (or was it Slab?) crawled was under the Potter’s mantle.

Had a dream last night that I was teaching again and was introducing working with clay, specifically ‘slab work’ with clay and rolling pins. Couldn’t find enough free surfaces for each child to spread out. Wanted to work in ‘an extra studio’ I had set up years before in an extra room at the school. As far as I knew it had not even been entered since then. (This is a ‘studio’ I’ve seen in my head for years also. Don’t know for sure if there is one somewhere. It’s not the one in our garage.) I opened the door for us to use it, and there was a whole group of kids and a teacher already in there!) So we continued to work where we were all over the place…on the floor, under tables, etc. I was trying to teach them to roll their clay a certain consistency…not too thick, and not too thin. I gave them each two flat sticks to put on either side of the clay to keep the rolling pin from rolling things too flat. I was trying to explain the word, ‘slab’. I just had to invent Slab as a character to show them what I meant. Very similar to Gumby, but uniquely Slab. So now that I’ve had the thought many times about this character at the Hillock, and have written about Slab as the character, the Potter, and have now dreamed of the importance of the character Slab as a teaching tool and example….is it time to focus on him as a character first? Also at the Hillock the other day, there was a very large colorful skink who raced into the Potter’s house, ran under the mantlepiece on the cedar tree that holds some of his pottery, and scurried down a hole there! Hmmmm….

Watching over his pond is an ancient king frog who has long turned to stone. His story is quite compelling and may surface soon as mysteries unfold at The Hillock. For now, he is content watching his offspring many generations hence, as they sparkle and shimmer as living cells in their comfortable pillowy egg sacs. Even Francklin the dog, respects their glistening greatness and allows them space when he cools his tired three legs in what he knows as ‘his pond’. Meanwhile, my head’s swimming with all these mysterious clues and characters.

Today, at the Hillock, there were awesome egg sacs in the tiny pond. They look like the big BullFrog type, but I’m not sure. So beautiful! Glistening, moving, billowing with so many new possibilities…I was so awestruck that somewhere I misplaced my phone…my one piece that reminds me that there’s another time bound world that calls as well. I know it will turn up. It always does. I’ll be patient until the weather report says rain. For now, the ‘jingle book’ is brimming with possibility and waiting for little i’s to be dotted and t’s of technology to be understood. Meanwhile there are mysteries whispering by the mossy hillock…to breathe in and out.