quietly creating

pacing
intransitive verb
1a : to walk with often slow or measured tread
transitive verb
1b : to cover at a walk
3a : to set or regulate the pace of
also: to establish a moderate or steady pace for (oneself)
b(1) : to go before : PRECEDE
b(2) : to set an example for : LEAD
– Merriam-Webster Dictionary

One of our cats has been pacing for the last week or so. Her health is in unexpectedly rapid decline and up until now, pacing for her has only been exhibited when she wants food or when she wants outside. Wrapped up in our own pacing thoughts and frenetic daily movements consumed by work and other life commitments, we were perhaps not fully aware that her current pacing was illustrating her physical discomfort and pain. Today, the pacing has stopped. She has found comfort in a blanket tent I created for her – a remembering of when she was a kitten and liked to hide under the blue weighted warmth of woven fabric. Within the pace of a (mostly) indoor cat’s lifespan, she has lived a full, adventuresome life. She is teaching me to reconsider what it means to really live, even within the parameters outside my control… to make the most of what I have, slow down and be grateful for moments of comfort. To be more intentional about the pacing of the short time we have here.

At the end of March, encouraged by windchill, I set out at a brisk pace and placed the pussytoes wreath I created last June near an ant hill. Even on that very cold day, ants were surfacing to take in the sun. Yesterday, I had time to visit the spot and the ant hill was teeming. It was hard to even find the wreath. In less than two months it has almost completely dissolved back into the earth. Nature sets a fast pace when conditions are right.

Human planted spring ephemerals also grow through a fast pace in this part of the world. Between a rollercoaster rhythm of snow and summer temperatures, the narcissus have come and gone within weeks. I rarely pick them, but the Narcissus ‘Poeticus’ fragrance is divine and their form: elegant and sculptural, especially in dim light.