Part 2,  TRACKS AND LINES AND SHADOWS ....


Paths and fences .......
and hidden memories
 etched in snow.....
but soon to melt with the coming Spring.

Now where did Perro go?
He started to come into the house with me
after checking out the
tracks, and lines and shadows
left by deer in the front yard ....but he turned around and went back outside.

Maybe he went out to the barn... or is looking for his ball. Hmmmm .....curious.

 

No .... he's not looking for his ball...

he passed right by it.

If I stand on this snow drift I can see him .... and see where he's going.

Ahhh..... it's Betsy clearing the

snow from my driveway.



"Thanks, Betsy!" I yelled and waved. She smiled at me and continued plowing .....

erasing some of the lines and tracks and shadows

left by my furry visitors .. the animal neighbor-friends who live with me at the top of the hill.

I went indoors and poured a cup of coffee .. asking Betsy if she wanted one -

she nodded no thanks, and continued on down the driveway, clearing ice and snow drifts .....

etching a new fresh path for the next journey

I would be making.

I stood, sheltered if not warmer, at the backporch window .... and saw the earlier tire tracks I'd made disappear beneath the tractor's snow shovel.

mmmmm ......

So like the memories of a lifetime ..

etches, lines, prints and shadows left in my mind and heart ....

Some memories, like recent tracks and lines and shadows are right on the surface....

But the memories etched, left by a  person or event in my life, are too deep to erase

An empty swing, now laden down with snow and one of the ropes fraying due to wind and weather ... but once carried me high up into the air, pushed from behind by strong hands and muscular back .....

Picnic table ...

once spread with a checkerboard cloth laden down with cheese and crackers, a bottle of "Dago Red" poured into pint-size canning jars ....

now display tiny tracks etched in snow ... squirrels and birds eeking out a meal from the Juniper berries still clinging to the branches.

The chill of winter hasn't erased the sweet memories stored in the heart of this grand old tree.

How fortunate .....

lines and tracks and shadows in the snow

are erasable...

but our hearts are the storehouses of

faces and memories of loved ones lost in death,

 or far away friends who have

 gone on to other places .....

If I close my eyes

and open my heart wide

I can see you ...

because God made hearts that way.  

"Come on, Guiness, let's find my ball!"

And they raced off in search of a new adventure...

leaving fresh tracks in the snow.