The Rocks and Trees Take Care of their Own

As you may have gathered, Fiorella has been a little down since she returned home. The travel itself had some unexpected dramas, she was disheartened at how the neighborhood in which she had spent the first seven years of her life had gone downhill, and while her cousins were wonderful, their hearty health made her aware that she, the matriarch, is aging by the moment. Also, the whole trip made her painfully aware that every minute of the day involves electronics now, an area in which Fiorella is totally inept. Without Daughter along, she would have spent the rest of her life sitting in the Akron airport.

By the time she got home, Fio was dog-tired and her self-confidence down the drain. The next day, she did a lot of lying on the couch. She felt like such a loser--a frail old woman who had to be helped at every turn and was of no use to the world. In late afternoon, after eating a giant choclate bar, she decided to go outside and check the plantings dying from the unusually hot, dry summer. As she surveyed the woods around the north side of the house, a sunny glade invited her to come look it over. Keeping her eyes down to avoid the afternoon glare and and drowsing rattlesnakes, she worked her way through the grasping cedars into the small meadow.

Wow--this place was loaded with good rocks!

You know what happened next. Fiorella picked up several good loads of rocks and tossed them up into a yard to use later. Then as she was about to rejoin humanity, she caught sight of a small dead tree that would make good firewood (lena buena) so she pushed and tugged at it until it broke, then hauled her trophy out to the yard to be moved to the woodpile on her next outdoors expedition.

Fiorella is revived! She may not be able to handle the digital demands of an airport, a hotel, or even her new cell phone, but when it comes to the great outdoors, she is queen of the jungle. Gracias, mis piedras y mi lena!