excerpted from 

THE LINN JOURNALS (Luna, Indy, and Nova Notes, Dog Walking Documents)

(Sand and Stride)

Day Two, Part Two

Walk long down there, and then up the hilly parts in the stone and sand, well wrought are the lands, green and the trees watch on. They seem taller today, and the overcast sky is gone and I can see the blue, the little clouds puffy and new. Breathe. Stretch. Queens Lace grows everywhere and there are places where the grasshoppers live and others that have dragonflies. Strange mushrooms to the side. A bee. A bird. A waving branch. Calm. Nobody is around. No souls.

I ask the lady, for it has arrived to me for some reason, ‘Who was that psychic that saw your grandmothers? And the one grandmother told the psychic that her posture should be better and the other grandmother…no…the same one had a bird, a parrot I think, that she kept in life, on her shoulder in the astral plane? I want to see her. I think I have a card somewhere. I also want to see spirit like that,- with plane eyes in everyday life…’ and the sun is strong for late day, and I am talkative suddenly, ‘…it is still summer, that is for sure.’

And we go far, determined, with a healthy and long stride, purposeful, happily or at least contentedly. The sumac is there, and the long and wide field briefly appears, side paths, more trees, a gravel way. We enter a turn that is full of purple flowers that grow somehow tall, to above knee height, taller than the others- they are intricate and strong, interesting and confident. They have each other, and live in large groups. ‘It’s as if on this turn, in this certain area exactly, everything pollinated or seeded and grew at at once,- w/the perfect mixture of the right soil and sun, rain and whatever it takes. Hey, want a soda cracker?. Do you know the other day I heard something in the bushes and stopped to see if I could see anything, and a large woodpecker jumped up and flew out?’

Eventually we turn that corner and begin the journey back. But it’s for the most part level ground. ‘It’s better to get the hilly parts done on the first half, when we are fresher and really setting out. Then just stroll back easily…’ and we do. It’s still bright for such a time a day. In the winter it will be dark at 5:30pm. We’d better take this while we can. In the summer I complain it’s too hot and in the winter I whine about the cold. Spring and autumn are my real times. Times of change and cool goodness and comfort. Liminal. Sweater weather as they say. But for now,- we better take it, better appreciate it, better go with it all…