Front door and back door


Refuge

And you just thought I was finished for the day…

The weather has been very mild. Here it is, June 11th and I think there has been one day that the temperature was in the triple digits. Maybe there's been five days I've had the cooler on. That's unusual for the Arizona desert, even a high one like mine.

It's been breezy though, almost perfect kite flying weather.

I can appreciate it more out my back door in the back yard. That's my piece of nature, complete with privacy fence. That's where my sun patio is. That's where my outdoor ritual area is. That is where my vegetable patch is.

If I go out the front door, the car is parked in the driveway, the street is right there, and the weather becomes a Political Topic™.

In the front, I have to wear shoes and pants. I can't spit, I can't belch, and I can't fart. I dare not look too closely at the nicely developing fifteen year old who lives down the street. I have to take care of pesky things like bills and keeping my front lawn looking nice so the neighbors don't complain.

The front of the house is the mask I wear to live among humans.

The backyard is where my secret heart lives. it's where I can put my bare feet in the soil and wiggle my toes. It's where my Name is engraved on the wind. It's my touchstone, it reminds me where I am from, and it whispers where I am going.

Far back in the ancient mists of mundane civilization, our backyards used to be without fences. You could move from one to another without gates. The front yards were for Show, but the backyards were where the people gathered. Sometimes the meal just moved from place to place. I'm lucky, I remember times and places where that was true.

Now the backyard has become our refuge because we can't deal constantly with what lies outside the front door.

I'm typing this in my sanctum, the NeoDen, the ultimate refuge. But even though it has a door that leads out front, I usually go back through the library and the house. I want to protect it.

If it rains here, it's rain. Out front, it's inconvenient and possibly a Political Topic™. If the sun shines though the solar tube on me now, it's a kiss from the Divine. Out front, it's something to be complained about.

You know, my favorite place for sunbathing (and moonbathing too) is the roof, but I have to wear trunks there. It's in civilization. My backyard isn't, even though it's surrounded by civilization.

My wild heart lives out the back door.

Posted: Thu - June 11, 2009 at 06:06 PM
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