Time to catch up with all that has ensued over these past months. After my mother passed life took a new course and it's been a bit of a wild ride, we've had extraordinary moments along with some hard ones. All in all this is what makes life so beautiful, this challenge to maintain balance point or as the Zen Buddhist call it the middle way when life throws all its got at you. I'm learning so much on all planes right now, from the most subtle to the most foundational. Our small piece of the land is a gift of spirit (and my mother) and with it comes a lot of work, not any little work but the type of work that challenges the physical strength as well as endurance to the max and then some.
As Spiritwind has expresses so beautifully on her thread Farm Life for every challenge comes an unanticipated blessing. Today's sharing is called a Solid Foundation which will become apparent as to why. When I write I will often hear a title first then what comes through are the inner stirrings that follow a little story line. So here it starts, our solid foundation started many years ago. The stones we laid were friendship and trust, not the kind of trust that demands a predetermined definition as to what it means, a deeper trust that runs something like this; Trusting in the all abiding love filled nature of the universe, trusting that the universal field that holds the all and wisely knows what is needed for each of us to grow. Trusting that we will never lack. Trusting each other to be that which we are. It's that kind of trust and it doesn't always come easily though with patient solitude, with a sense of ever presenting now that doesn't rush or push or pull things fall into a natural order.
This has shown itself to be a foundational truth over and over again. One that is never taken for granted for each blessing is received with a deep running gratitude and often a celebratory moment caught in the light of the setting sun.
Our land sits on the sloping foothill of the Eastern mountains looking West. When the land was purchased we began making plans and with each step these last few months we've had to reassess and make changes, I know some people would find this frustrating but for us it is liberating for it requires dexterity and acquiescence the natural order of the ground, trees and wild life. We've named our tierra firme El Canto for the song of birds is the enchanting music we listen to all day long. When putting down a shovel or getting up to stretch or finding a shady place to rest out of the hot sun the birds are ever present singing simply for the love of song.
So yesterday was a big day, one we had anticipated for several weeks and just when we thought it would never happen it did. You see we are indeed on a solid foundation for one meter down under the top soil is pure rock and we needed to bury a cistern and biodigester to hook up the RV, (we name everything and the RV is called La Bestia for her lumbering size and V-8, 7.5 liter engine, we got her running after fifteen years sitting unused.)
An hour and two weeks after the date we made with the backhoe owner a machine rumbled up to the entrance. We had actually already left the land for town since we thought another disappointing day would go by. Turning around we led Carlos, the operator to initiate the work of breaking through rock and getting a hole dug big enough to hold the 5,000 liter cistern. Another great surprise this day was that another backhoe operator with the same company found he didn't have work and so showed up an hour later, suddenly we had two brand new machines working and we got the first part of the job done. The amazing thing is that in Mexico the cost is $450 pesos an hour that's about $23 USD.
Carlos and Toño dance with their backhoes.
Loki and Thor oversee the work before retreating to the shade.
Hydraulic hammer breaks apart the stone.
Cristian marking our property line with Horacio, the wise bonsai (soon to be liberated) Cedar watching on.
It gets better still ... Two doggies wandered on to the property five days ago, came to find out that they have no owner and were probably dropped off to be abandoned. So we have these two brothers and what better names than Loki and Thor sprung up like a well watered seed.
It's been blistering hot without a cloud or chemtrail in the sky for over a week now so getting our cistern in is priority.. oh, and someone had a birthday on Sunday, life keeps rolling on.
Loki and Thor:
Loki
Thor
And one final blessing on this day, our neighbor who will be building soon showed up with an open armed embrace. He volunteered to pay for half of the fence between our properties and even buy a bag of dog food for Loki and Thor!
And .... someone had a birthday on Sunday.
Lovely man and he even offered to pay half of the wall between our properties, that was a surprise. On his visit he fell in love with Loki and Thor and will bring a bag of dog food as an offering this coming Friday. Those are the unexpected blessings.