Working At Relaxing!

"I popped a rib out" I tell the man that we are getting the hay from.  I take a moment to wrestle a bale into the back of his truck, that we are borrowing to transport the soft yellow-brown, slightly itchy material.  We are building another Elliot Coleman style compost bin, something we had huge success with last year.  My husband and I had a fall wedding and part of the decorations were multiple bales of hay stacked with pumpkins, gourds, mums...the typical New England fall decorations.  And being super frugal, we put our wedding decorations to work.  They helped us make about three yards of compost for our veggie gardens. And yes there is a picture of me jumping for joy atop the black gold that we made!  (I actually have compost listed as one of the most romantic gifts I've ever been given by my husband.)

I popped a rib out, uttered from my lips on several occasions in passing conversation.  The horror on people's faces.  I stop to digest what I've just said.  I popped a rib out.  I say it as if it happens to everyone and that this is as common of an occurrence as drinking a cup of coffee and hitting a bump.  I'm not sure how-it's the second time this has happened in the past few years.  No doubt it has something to do with me moving incorrectly.  And this seems to be just another notch that I've gained on the belt of 'I'm an ageing individual'.

However, my ageing, arthrictic body has been warning me to slow down.  And so I found myself attending a yoga class in an attempt to aknowledge it.  I've decided to work on me and learn about relaxation.  And almost like this was my destiny, to learn about relaxing-my partner and I were given a hot tub.  It needed a few minor repairs, but my husband is the resourceful type, and had it up and running in no-time.   Okay, so there was some time.  (Especially while Rob worked at his full time job, I cobbed several part time things together for work and we were helping organize the town's first garlic festival).  The part for the repair sat in a box.  Umm, for over a month.

So this past weekend while the leaves were still rustling in the trees,warning winter that it's up next, my husband and I remembered to go out and check out the foliage.  We climbed up some trails that we hadn't been up before or hadn't visited in a long time.  We did two hikes, one to Sterling Pond, a trail just outside of Stowe in Smugglers' Notch.  The other trail was Deer Leap in Bristol.  And with each step we took, we breathed in the crisp fall air.  Our eyes were dazzled with brightly colored fallen leaves, wet moss-covered rocks and we were reminded of what it feels like to let ourselves be still. 

I squeezed in getting a henna by Rebecca Freedner from Heartfire Henna.  I'm not sure how it was that I decided that I liked henna, because up until a year a go I didn't know much about it.  But when Rob and I decided to get married, I was pretty sure that if anything was going to make me happy-it would be henna.  There wasn't a wedding dress, a photographer or a ring-but we got henna.  And I was super happy.  You have to sit still to get henna and to me it's the most tranquil way to be pampered and bigger bonus you end up with a cool design to ponder for however long it takes for it to wear off.  It also helps if the person doing the henna is the pure embodiment of mother nature.  Or has the affect of warm chocolate chip cookies, a good night's rest and your favorite apertif all in one!  Rebecca has that magical henna touch.   

If you were wondering when I'd get back to the hot tub....well here it is.  Imagine the shock when I sat immersed in a bubbly mix of steaming water and I looked out onto the world my husband and I had worked so hard to create.  The flock of chicken retirees meandered about the yard gossiping.  I  looked down the hillside onto our hoophouse with fenced in gardens, still producing food into October!  The beautious chicken coop stared back at me with it's tidy flower gardens framing it, a few vibrant blue Aconitum (Monkshood) standing tall.  And I gazed at the small berry patches, still producing a berry here and there.  It was stunning!  And for a few moments, I allowed myself some deep breaths.  And I forgot  about the sore spot where my rib sits misallinged for the time being (it has worked itself back into place before) so I won't give up hope on it.

As I work harder to organize and make the most of my energy, I recognize relaxation to be just as important of a component of my daily life as anything .  Maybe that means that I periodically stop for a moment to stretch in the opposite direction while I'm weeding or that I take in my surroundings while I rush about feeding and watering the chickens during my morning routine.  It sounds wrong to use the words working at relaxing but I think it is definitely becoming part of the whole, at Chicken Hill.