A while ago I bought Robin a book, The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay. I had heard the author interviewed on an NPR program during which he had also read a few passages from his book. I thought it might be something she would enjoy.
A week or two ago I put the book on the reading table next to the throne. I’ve been reading an essay or two each morning during my “meditation” time. For this reason I have been thinking a bit more of delight and joy than I normally do. Señora is not reticent about using the word grumpy in reference to me, but I do have my lighter sides.
As we were enjoying our morning coffee The Wee Dog was on the window sill behind the sofa in the family room. Suddenly she started barking wildly, and wanting to go outside. We thought perhaps she had seen one of her dreaded enemies, The Squirrel. I let her out and I went back to the love seat with Robin. The Wee Dog ran to the corner of the yard barking ferociously. Robin spotted it first, a deer in the yard behind us, a very common sight in this neighborhood. This neighbor has several tall, conical shaped evergreens planted close together on the side of his house close to a retaining wall. They provide a bit of a privacy screen for his enclosed patio. Apparently the doe had bedded down within this copse for the night. That in itself is a bit unusual, and the fact that she was alone was also out of the ordinary. For the longest while all we could see was her head. Then she moved out a bit and we could see her forelegs, but the rest of her was hidden in the evergreens. And there she stayed.
Even though deer are truly a nuisance to gardens and shrubs around here it is still a delight to see them wandering around the neighborhood. Around dark thirty it behooves one to pay attention as they frequently cross the streets in front of cars. Even that is delightful as long as you do not hit one. Since I do not tell them that I have several pounds of venison in the freezer, they do not hold that against me. So perhaps I am a delight for them also. Truth is if I had to kill or clean or butcher a deer there would be no venison in there. Robin’s son Adam keeps us supplied with venison from his work out at Craghurst.
Back to our doe… she just stayed in the shrubbery, half in and half out. She was ignoring the insistent barking of The Wee Dog. I went to the back door and whistled a few times, and she moved her head to see where the sound had come from. This went on for a good 15 or more minutes with the deer just standing there. I begin to suspect something was amiss. However, I needed to go off for a bit, and few minutes later Robin came upstairs to tell me the deer had left. She went on to tell that the deer had a broken hind leg. Not having seen this, I can only imagine the animal needed to be put down to alleviate her suffering. But off she went and to where we know not.
The delight at seeing one of Mother Nature’s own had turned to a feeling of sadness about the plight of a fellow creature. At this point I am worrying about her starving to death, or more likely ending up as a meal for coyotes. I have spent a good portion of the day in contemplation about the fragility of all life. The fact that is rainy and gloomy here today has not lighten my mood.
And so it goes…
Keep well.
Life…..
I felt helpless and sad that this deer was so damaged