good things or have i mentioned our fox?

so much goodness going on right now...

~ as you can see, our fox continues to enchant. we were sitting in the garden, sipping wine with friends this evening when she came out to join us. one of the big barn kittens ran towards her, wanting to play (and nearly giving me a heart attack) and she ran away. she's not a normal fox.

~ preparing for my upcoming real life blogging course! it will run locally the month of october in two locations! and i'm not taking it, i'm the teacher if you can believe it! it's so much fun putting together the lesson plan, i'm really excited about it.

~ also preparing for the beginning russian course i was roped into teaching. i'm still hoping a little bit that they don't get enough people signing up for it to hold it, as i'm not sure i remember enough russian to teach it, let alone teach it through danish rather than through english! ack! at the same time, i'm enjoying talking to the interested people (read, cute-sounding older ladies) who are calling to inquire about it.

~ i think i can live with reading on an iPad if the book is in PDF form and i can open it in notability, where i can highlight and scribble in the margins, just like in a real book. maybe there is something to this whole eBook thing after all.

~ our summery days have returned and they are glorious.  as is that moon. i didn't bother to try to photograph it, i just took a picture with my eyes and am holding it in my memory.

~ trying out a new, more subdued blog banner. i'm not sure how long it will last, but for tonight, i like it.

~ we ordered some insanely cute and probably poisonous japanese candy from eBay this evening. you know about stuff like that if you have an almost-teenager in the house.

~ the almost-teenager is still the most sensible member of the family. i was going to buy some frozen shrimp to put in tonight's pasta dish and she said, "mom, wait 'til friday and buy fresh from the fish guy when he comes." why didn't i think of that?

~ the next iPhone is coming soon. we're ready.

~ it's been four days since i've bought lego minifigures.

the fox

The fox is a single red stroke that cuts across
the clearing. The colour seems to hang like smoke,
you can almost see where she has come from.

Her musk (though you can smell nothing)
is specific like a thumbprint on the air.
It isn’t raining but there’s a kind of wet
on your face, a stickiness of insect juices dropped.

The fox is rusty-dull, discreet, not radiant or hot
or pulsing. Not agitated. Not randy.

She is completely dream and intelligence
sliding through the wet grass, the stinging nettles,
the little brittle helmets of dry seed,
a flower or two, relics of the drizzly, petalled summer.

The lyric fox goes down to the creek
where dark and dankness will mask her scent
and the lovely rosette of her face.

She’ll be able to pause there, for a while, sip water
while the dogs swirl and bell in front of the Big House.

by Bernadette Hall
(a best new zealand poem 2009)

* * *

i don't normally post other people's words on my blog, but i liked this poem and mood it captures and i felt our beautiful, fine fox deserved fine words.  she is both elusive and canny, but curious and even a bit friendly as well. she's young and we think she lost her mother early and didn't learn natural fear of humans. or perhaps foxes are just adjusting to a more populated world and able to live among us and with us. whatever it is, we are enjoying her presence here while it lasts. our new chickens are locked securely away and the one feral chicken is canny herself and keeps herself safely up high in a tree. the cats and the fox seem to have declared some kind of detente. she was frolicking on the field this evening, quite near the horses, so they are also accustomed to her presence. she's just a beautiful, wild, wary presence here in our midst. and i think we're all a little bit in love with her.