Somebody Had To Ask Ralph

For demonstration purposes only!

            Just to backspace a little, you remember Dexter, Ranger Rick’s understudy, trainee Forest Ranger of course. As it happens Dexter had a hobby. When he wasn’t at the campground doing his lawful duties and chatting up Hannah, the camp host, he was exploring caves in the PNW.
            These are very special caves, tunnels in the lava flows of many moons ago. Where these caves or tunnels might be located is a separate story.
            Additionally, we know that Ralph likes to have a little chat with his friend Ranger Rick from time to time, and with luck, maybe the man would have some pastry to share too. Never a bad deal.
            So, with Alderheart, the tree spirit, safely tucked into a living column of the Alder Tree House and everything serene at home under the eye of Ramona, he decided to take a little stroll to the Ranger Station. It was a good way to catch up on the world a little, on Rick’s laptop computer.
            For Ralph, it’s a short and pleasant wander from the heart of the Great Forest, i.e. the Home Clearing, to the domain of Man, the Ranger Station and campground. It might take you or I a little longer and we might get lost. No matter.
        When he emerged from the woods, by the dumpster, he saw that Rick’s service vehicle was parked in its usual spot. He gave it a little smack on the hood. It was cold. Rick had been there for a while.
        Ralph gave a little knock on the office door to announce his arrival, opened it up and stuck his head in.
            “Rick! Are you in here?” he said.
            “Nope. I’m gone, Ralph,” said Rick.
            “Darn,” said Ralph, coming in and locating his buddy seated at his desk. He was watching something on the screen facing him.
            Ralph took a seat in the extra big chair facing Rick.
            “Whatcha watchin’?” said Ralph.
            “Some guy, this Canadian, talking about how you guys live in caves all over the country,” said Rick, turning the laptop around so Ralph could see too.
            Before either of them could say another word, Dexter, himself, came into the office. He startled a little when he saw Ralph, but not too badly. He had a box in his arms, just like about the right size to hold cookies.
            Dexter took a look at the screen and said, “I’ve seen that one. Hey, Hannah made cookies! Oatmeal, raisin, and walnut! Anybody brave enough to try them?”
            “Why, certainly, Dexter, my boy! Rustle us up some coffee, and we’ll all check them out," said Rick.
            “Hey, Ralph!” said Dexter. Then he went to the kitchen nook to make a new pot of coffee.
            “Dexter is a caver,” said Rick. Ralph raised his eyebrows and nodded.
            In about ten minutes all three were drinking coffee and sampling some of Hannah’s cookies. They must have been OK cookies because nobody was talking.
            “You should probably marry her,” said Rick. Dexter blushed.
            “That’s sort of the plan, once I get her to agree,” murmured Dexter.
            Maybe to change the subject, Dexter turned to Ralph. He said, “So, I’ve been in many local caves. I started exploring when I was about 15.
            “This Canadian wants us to believe that you Forest People live in underground tunnels and caves and use them for ways to get around, and to escape attention. It seems like it could be possible. There’s certainly enough room in the underground. There is even water in some caves back east mostly. I guess his idea is that you come up to the surface to hunt. I’m not sure what all he thinks.
            “Now, maybe it’s because they heard me coming, but I’ve never seen anybody living in any cave I’ve been in.,” said Dexter.
            “So, yeah, Ralph, what say you, since you should know?” said Rick, grinning.
            Ralph sat there, smiling, then he laughed. “I’m a mammal, right?”
            “Far as I can tell, you sure look like a mammal,” said Rick.
            “Did you see any other mammals living in any of those caves?” Ralph asked.
            “No, some bats,” said Dexter. “I guess they’re mammals though.”
            “Yeah, nocturnal mammals. Well, now, my mother and father, my brothers and sisters, Uncle Bob and Aunt Suzie, and every other Forest Keeper that I know, loves the sunshine, and the moon and stars. We love the wind, the rain, and the snow. We love the forest. Some love the deserts. We love the mountains, and the rivers, and the great salt waters.
            “Maybe some of our extended tribes do use the caves for a refuge, or for travel, but I don’t know of anyone who lives in caves.
            “I think that whole deal is a story based on fear of the dark and the unknown,” said Ralph. “You humans have a great capacity for fear of the unknown, I’ve noticed.”
            “I can’t imagine what Mona would say if I suggested we go underground!” said Ralph.
            They finished off the pot of coffee and the two dozen cookies.
            “Thanks, Ralph. I see your point,” said Dexter.
            “Thank you guys for the coffee and cookies. Hannah did a great job. Maybe I’ll go see what Mona thinks about living underground!”
            Ralph was giggling at the idea as he left the office and headed home.

💚🌿🍃💚

It Was Supposed To Be Suzday

 

            “Toots, Dear, do you see this photo?” said Suzie, who had just awakened from a nap.
            “Yes, Luv, I do. I see you beside the dear young ones,” answered Toots.
            “Et tu, Tootsie?” said Suzie. “I protest, entirely. And this picture is the evidence of a great injustice!”
            “Oh, I was just tugging your tail a little, Suzie. It’s true that it doesn’t look good. I can see that you are metaphorically on the outside of the grooming pile, and the injustice shows on your sweet little face,” Toots said sympathetically.
            “Correct. It’s my day, and no one is grooming my ears, are they? They are wrapped up in each other, and I have no idea where that Mr. Baby is, not that he would have the nerve to attempt to groom me!” huffed Suzie. “Brrrrt!”
            “But, he ought to try. It’s only polite,” said Toots.
            “It is an acknowledgement of leadership. True. Perhaps he and the Scouts all avoid grooming you as a sign of rebellion. Obvioudly, you were next in line after Willie, of blessed memory, went Around The Corner! Something isn’t right here,” said Toots, seriously.
            “It’s true. I sat under his iron paw for many years! It’s my turn!” added Suzie. “But, that’s not the greatest injustice here. Look at that photo. It was taken by Herself, Lady Poobah, etc., etc. Notice who is in the center of the shot, lovingly captured there, and who is shoved over to the side?” grumped Suzie.
            “I must say, to be fair to all concerned, that if you had been smiling, the picture would have looked like a scene of domestic tranquility, not a poster for My Nose IS Out Of Joint!” said Toots.
            “Toots, you ought to hear the way she talks to those two rounders! Baby, Angel, Such Good Boys, etc. Nauseating etc. She holds them and speaks sweetly to them!” argued Suzie.
            “You were a kitten once, Suz. There were older cats around then too!” said Toots. “I’m pretty sure you got to be the new baby when it was your turn,” said Toots.
            “Yeah, but I was pretty Cautious even back then and I didn’t put up with a lot of touching. From the beginning, I didn’t put up with much,” sighed Suzie.
            “There is a price to be paid for being Cautious,” said Toots. “I’ve heard that it’s possible to err on the side of Caution!”
            “A logical possibility, but is it probable?” asked Suzie, pedantically.
            “It’s up to each of us to try to balance the bubble the best we can,” said Toots.
            “What?” said Suzie.
            “Never mind, Dear! Why don’t you smile at the little guys, and maybe just pounce right in and groom them! They’d probably turn right around and clean your ears! They’re just cats, after all. Young and full of esprit de whatever, but still, cats,” said Toots.
            “I’m not going to groom Mr. Fluffbag!” said Suzie.
            “I wouldn’t either,” said Toots, giggling. “He already thinks you love him!”
            “That is positively the most appalling thing I’ve heard all day, Toots,” said Suzie. “But, OK, I’ll try smiling, though my heart is aching.”
            “Better stop with obscure song references, Suzie. Noboy listens to that sutff anymore!” said Toots.
            “Brrrrt!” said Suzie.
            “Nehhkkkk!” said Toots, with a significant nod!

😹💛😸

Meowy May Morning Greetings with A Rose

             I went outside yesterday to see if any of the red roses had bloomed, but instead found several of these little pink darlings. Apparently rose season is upon us. The red ones are a little behind them.

            Bless all your little hearts, not in Southern.

            Let's just chat today, as usual. All threads are open threads at the old MEOW, and that's a very fine thing as far as I am concerned.

🌸

Ralph and The Singing Forest

  

            Once upon a day in the Great Forest, as Ralph was strolling, in that smooth style that he has, he was attending to the song of each tree, or bush, or flower, as he passed it. It’s true, he could hear them all, in harmony, or separately.
            A great and august Douglas fir sang in massively deep rolling waves, atonally, but there, providing a backdrop of sound all others tuned to.
            A cedar sang in higher tones, almost like a song sung by the human natives of the land. Ralph wondered for a moment if the original humans could hear it too. He put it in the back of his mind to find someone who might know the answer.
            Now that it was summer, the blackberry vines, with ripening fruit sang a sweet low harmony. Just faintly, he could hear the berries themselves humming along.
            Even the grass had a song, which upheld and supported the music of the insects which inhabited its stalks. It had a feminine timbre, welcoming and sweet.
        Ralph noted happily that all this singing was going well. It was an atmosphere of sound, as warm and real as his mother’s embrace had been long ago.
        He heard the creatures of the soil voicing their small concerns.
        He heard the rabbits speaking among themselves. If he listened carefully, he could hear the deer, wondering aloud among themselves, which way to go, what to look out for, and other such business.
        He heard the trout in the river urging their brothers and sisters along, singing their silvery monotonous song, over and over, as if they were the voice of the river itself. A sibilant sound rushing along.
        Rocks are not silent either, you know? Ralph thought that if he had to, he would describe their song as a kind of subliminal rumble, louder or lower depending on the size of each rock.
            All of this was wonderful. It was kind of like listening to an angelic choir, if one could hear such a song. Maybe Ralph could hear that too! We mustn’t put it beyond him.
        But the Great Forest only touches Heaven. It is not Heaven, and something was wrong among the great firs. One was silent. It stood upstream along the whispering, chuckling silver river that ran through the Great forest. Its silence stood out among the choir.
            Ralph drew near the silent tree. He leaned his ear against its bark, to discern if the tree was quite dead or just asleep somehow. But the tree was silent. Instead, he heard weeping, faintly, inside where the tree’s heart had lived. It was very faint, neither you nor I could hear it.
            “Why are you weeping,” Ralph said. He put both arms around the tree and held on there.
            “I am alone,” said a dry light voice.
            “What is your name? How can I help you?” answered the Regent of the Forest.
            “I have no name, Sir, and I am imprisoned here, now that my home has died,” cried the voice, low and distressed.
            “Where will you go if I call you out?” asked Ralph, very softly.
            “I must find another tree,” said the voice.
            “I must give you a name, if I am to call you out and send you to another home,” said Ralph.
            “Then, truly, name me. We tree souls have no name except for the name of the tree we love,” said the voice.
            “Spirit, I know a place for you. There is a house in the meadow nearby made of living alder trees. You may live there, if you will,” said Ralph, standing apart from the fir again.
            “I will go, if you send me, Sir,” said the voice. “What shall my name be?”
            Ralph thought deeply about the tree spirit, and what its name should be. Then he said, “Alderheart. I name you Alderheart, and I call you forth!”
            A nearly visible, translucent, pale green figure, slight and girlish, stood before Ralph then. Her long hair hung below her knees, and she wore a gown as green as pale spring leaves. Her feet were bare.
            “It is a good name, Sir. May I know your name, since you seem to have command here?” said Alderheart.
            “I am called Ralph. The name my mother gave me is known only to myself and a few others,” said Ralph.
            “Ralph, Sir, send me to this house made of living alder trees! The outer air is harsh,” said she.
            “Take my hand, and close your eyes, Alderheart. I will see the place in my mind, and you will go there, and be at home in a blink of an eye,” said Ralph to the tree spirit, so pale and green. “You will find a home there, for some of the trees are very young and also alone.”
            So, she did lay her small hand in Ralph’s big warm hand, and then he stood alone beside the river again. The chorus of the Forest rose up around him, and he blessed it in his heart, for it was very pleasing.
            It made Ralph happy to know that Alderheart would be near his loved ones, for he is wise and very kind.

🍀

Photos for Purrsday Open Thread, May 21

             On May 25th of 2011, we were exploring Arches National Park in Utah. 

            We brought the kid along, to give him a look at something besides the insides of houses, and electronic toys. 

             Looking at these rocks, the sensation of time is overwhelming. Dreamtime?

            It's definitely the great wide open. I'd prefer to live in Nevada or Arizona I think, but Utah is good too.

            There were no stories up my sleeve yesterday, so instead you got a short travelogue! And, the road goes on forever and is always calling!

            Have a wonderful day!

           🌸

Emmy's Day Off

 

Most mornings when Emmy awoke, and had some breakfast, she studied for a couple of hours. She had decided to do home school, and she was greatly enjoying not taking the long bus ride into town and spending a lot of each day with just the mechanics of being in school.
            This morning felt different.
The Golden Frog sat in his tiny green house, but she could hear him whispering about going out of doors. “It’s spring,” he said. “All the world is waiting,” he said. He buzzed like a bee in Emmy’s mind.
            She dressed in jeans, canvas sneakers, t-shirt, and a little jacket with zipper pockets. The jacket was red corduroy and had a hood. Beth had sewn it for her.
            She put the Golden Frog in the right side pocket, and zipped him in securely. Her little phone went in the left pocket. Being wise to herself, she kept it in a zip lock sandwich baggie.
            Out in the kitchen, Beth was drinking coffee and checking things out online. Jesse had already left for the day. Honda lay under the table taking a morning nap. She didn’t see Billy, but he was around there somewhere, probably asleep too.
            “Mom, I’m thinking about taking a walk,” Emmy told her mother. “This frog won’t stop talking about going outside.” It was something they frequently joked about, as if the frog did talk.
            “Better eat some of those eggs then,” said Beth, taking her eyes off of the small screen to look at her daughter. Emmy was not a very big girl for her age. She had snappy dark brown eyes, like Jesse’s people, and curly black hair. Those curls are just about all she got from me, Beth thought. But she was smiling.
            Mother and daughter, had coffee together. Emmy liked cream in her coffee. She rolled her eggs up in a flour tortilla, with green salsa.
            “Take your phone, Emmy. Don’t wander too far,” said Beth.
            “It’s in my pocket. I’ll have to come back when I get hungry,” said Emmy.
            Billy turned up, yawning and stretching, from wherever he had been sleeping. For such a large cat he could hide well. Billy mostly kept his own council.
            “Want to come with me, Honda?” Emmy said, looking down under the table. Honda certainly did want to come with her!
            Outside, it was a breezy spring day, cool for Navajo country. Emmy noticed that the hens were still in their hutch. Jesse fed the hens before leaving for his shop. She glanced at their water pan just to make sure. Emmy loved the hens.
            Aunt Julia had loved the hens too.
            The consuming mystery of their lives was Aunt Julia. She was never found, no matter how hard she was searched for. There were theories, but people can’t resist making up theories, and Emmy didn’t believe any of it.
            Emmy and Julia had been very close, and to Emmy she didn’t feel gone. Not really.
            “Which way shall we go, Honda? River or road?”
            Honda headed to the little stream that Emmy called a river. Emmy followed slowly, doing a few fancy little walking steps that she had learned from Julia. It slowed her down, but of course Honda didn’t mind.
            The wind blew a few low clouds in. A little rain splattered Emmy and Honda.
            “Shall we go downstream?” she said, pulling her hood up over her curls.
            There was a path beside the stream. If they followed it for a mile or so, it would meet a larger stream. The water was higher than usual. It always dried up some in the summer.
            Honda dashed in and out of the water, bringing Emmy stones. She put a nice agate in her pocket with the frog, zipping them both in.
            Then the rain came down. The sky darkened. There was a flash of lightning, and thunder. Another flash. Honda walked closely with her now. The thunder bothered him a little.
            “There is something in the water,” murmured the Golden Frog. “Can you see?”
            The phone in Emmy’s pocket buzzed. It was Beth. “Are you hungry yet?”
            “Almost. I’m getting pretty wet!” laughed Emmy. Meanwhile she was looking closely into the little stream. Holding a steady position in the stream was a huge fish.
            It had whiskers! A catfish! Emmy knew he didn’t belong here.
            “Are you lost?” said Emmy to the fish.
            “I’m tired,” said the fish. “A yellow dog told me that if I swam up here that there was a wonderful lake of still water.”
            “Ma’ii is a liar, Fish. He wanted to catch you in shallow water and gobble you up!” said Emmy. “There is no lake up this tiny stream.”
            “Oh, woe!” said the great fish. “Now that I am weary, will you capture me and gobble me up?”
            “No, fish. But I will help you turn around. Then you can swim easily to where you belong,” said Emmy.
            So, Emmy waded out to where the water was knee deep. She wasn’t sure how to help the fish turn around, but she was willing. When she reached him, she saw that his belly lay heavily on the rocks below him.
            While Honda watched, just in case she needed him, Emmy reached both arms down into the water, hugging the fish. Then she lifted him and turned him head for tail so that he was headed back down stream.
            “Go home fish, and never believe a word from Ma’ii!” said Emmy, still standing knee deep in water.
            “May the Maker of All, always grant you mercy,” said the fish as he swam downstream.
            “You’ve gotten me and your phone wet,” said the Golden Frog.
            “I bet I did,” said Emmy, carefully walking up out of the water. She could hardly have gotten any wetter if she dove in. “I may end up living without a phone for a while. Sometimes those bags leak.”
            When Emmy and Honda returned home, they got all dried off, and had some lunch with Beth and Billy.

🐟

May 24, 2011, Into The Great Wide Open

 That year I rented some big sedan.

My Navigator and my grandson comprised the rest of the crew.

He's her nephew.

It was May, and we headed down through Washington and Oregon,

bound for the Southwest.

The photo was taken by my daughter.

Ridiculously enough, I couldn't get that close to the Canyon.

The effect was visceral and permanent.

I tried.

We hit all the places.

Death Valley.

Bonneville Salt Flats.

Zion.

There were ruins and petroglyphs! 

Given my choice, I would live somewhere in that wide open land.

To place a hand on a rock and feel its living heat, is not nothing.

To see so far, that the curve of Earth is almost discernable, 

is likewise something.

Have a wonderful day!

🤍