I had my morning routine down. Zinnia waiting patiently outside the gate while Fate circled the sheep and I fed the animals and mucked out the barn.
Then Robin and Spring came.
Now everything takes longer and the gentle rhythms of my morning chores have vanished. That consistency was a grounding element of my days especially appreciated during the early months of the Pandemic when life seemed to change drastically from day to day.
I haven’t figured out a new routine yet.
My mornings in the barnyard have me running back and forth forgetting simple things that need to be done, searching for my rake and shovel.
There’s another barn to muck, more gates to open and close more buckets of water to haul.
Now that the cats are outside, Zinnia has taken to visiting with Minnie on the backporch instead of waiting at the gate.
The first time she wasn’t at the gate and didn’t come when I called I was concerned. Now I know that she’s waiting at the backdoor for Jon to take her into the side pasture to throw the ball for her. He’s been doing that ever since the snow melted.
By the time I get my new morning routine down, Robin will probably be old enough to be out in the barnyard with the rest of the animals.
Then I can figure it out all over again.
I think the more we live with nature, the more in tune we are with how energies change, we notice how life becomes a continual series of adjustments and refinements. For myself, my sleep with gradually change with the seasons and that has a ripple effect. I love how when it’s warmer and my windows are open at night, I can wake to the chorus of birdsong around 5:30 am, my day starting much earlier than in the middle of winter.
I find the same Therese about living with nature. Although I don’t find myself getting up earlier, usually just working later when it’s warm and light out. I do love the idea of waking with the birds.
The beauty of a routine is it frees you from thinking. You just do. I think that’s one of the reasons the pandemic has been unsettling for so many people: it disrupted routines of long standing. And thinking is hard!
Absolutely Jill, it’s that body being able to move in those known actions which frees the mind. My routines were not as disrupted as much as so many people during this time. But still, it takes adjusting to.