Velveteen Paddocks

One day, about a week ago, I happened to be outside in the late afternoon.
It was a surprisingly sunny day and glancing at the paddock in the distance I was taken in by the quality of the light on the wintry pasture. Now that the trees are so barren, devoid of their leaves that catch the light and glisten when they move as the wind picks up, the scene is quite stark. I can now see the bones of the space quite distinctly. My eyes caught sight of the far plot of grass just behind the large pond that will grow bigger and deeper as the winter progresses. It seemed to me that the little bit of that land had an extra helping of magic sprinkled on it through the afternoon sunlight. Everything near there seemed so surreal.
I didn’t grow up on a farm. In fact, I only moved to a farm area when I relocated my life from California to the South Island of New Zealand, almost 29 years ago. It was quite an education for me even though I’d had houses that were private and not too close to neighbors. But never in my wildest dreams could I have anticipated the kind of lifestyle I’d be living in rural locales. It was a real wake up call for me that was like going back to simpler times. Different things gained in importance as other things paled and faded away from my thoughts. And from this vantage point three decades later, I’m happy to admit that I prefer life, my life, in the wop wops at the end of the track, where the road is dusty and dirty and real. Somehow, by hook or by crook (whatever that means), I’ve found myself out here in the lonesome wooded tracts of land that
few people even drive by and even fewer live around here. And somehow, I’ve relished my solitude from the crowds and the traffic and the noise and the concrete jungles. Give me nature’s backdrop any day and I’ll jump out of bed (or try to at my age), and go outside and play, just like when I was little.
It’s a sea change from life in a town or even a suburb. It isn’t convenient however and that may prove to be a problem down the road a bit. But for now, just give me unfettered tranquility and space and some garden tools and I’m off and hitting the ground running.