Enjoying Little Things in Nature

Yesterday I began a third round in my chemotherapy journey, a new cocktail - one old drug and one new old drug, standard treatment for someone with a recurrence of ovarian cancer symptoms.  This time it's especially bothering the lining of my stomach, but enough of that.  I made it through my first of six treatments without a reaction so I'm off to a good start I think.

Post chemo meds have me feeling perky enough today to find a spot for journaling on the bank of Tom's Creek, near our tamarack stand.   I chose this place to write, when I noticed an otter had just made his entrance under the ice along the creek's edge, after this morning's fresh dusting of snow, but not before leaving a pile of scat just above his entrance.  Was he marking his territory?  I'm not sure.  I'll sit here a spell and see if he pops his head back out of the hole.

Otter scat up on the bank

I'm immensely enjoying "little" things in nature today, as you all should when there aren't any "big" things at your feet, or in your eye or earshot. Mr. Otter might be disappointed in hearing me say this.






On my walk here I noticed a surplus of snow fleas all along the foot path we share with the deer, that leads to the creek.  At 33 degrees, it's a snow flea kind of day. 

My boot, next to several snow fleas, hopping about atop the melting snow

My appreciation of something so seemingly insignificant as these tiny snow fleas reminds me of a book I am reading now from my friend, Leslie, called "The Sound of a Wild Snail", by Elisabeth Tova Bailey.  It's about a young woman who travels abroad and acquires a terrible virus that leaves her bedridden.  A friend brings her flowers and she finds a snail living in the terracotta pot atop the soil the flowers are planted in.  The snail, as tiny and insignificant as it might seem, becomes so important to the woman.  Eventually someone brings a terrarium for her to keep the snail in, and because of her weakened condition and lonely lifestyle, the snail becomes a sort of pet and obsession that helps the woman cope with life.

These tiny snow fleas also remind me of Frank Krueger, a subject in my nonfiction book, "The Wisconsin Krueger Family Tragedy", who is imprisoned for 16 years, in part due to draft evasion during WWI.   One day Frank writes home to his mother about a singing cricket that appears in his jail cell, leaving him with feelings of nostalgia and homesickness.  Sometimes little things in nature might be all we have to look at, but they can still be fascinating, comforting, and special, if we really think about how marvelous and delicate they are.

It's a calm and beautiful Wisconsin winter day with a light breeze swaying the brown marsh grass to and fro, where I sit.  The sun, and a bit of blue sky, occasionally peak at me from beneath the dark gray clouds.  I love it when the clouds break apart, allowing rays of sunshine to poke through them... like right now above the white pine trees that line the banks of Tom's Creek. 

 

 

O.k., Mr. Otter.  

Since you're obviously not going to show yourself, it's time for me to head back home!