This morning we were awakened by the beep, beep, beep of the school bus backing into our neighbor's driveway. Labor Day has come and gone and the young world is returning to the fall ritual of school schedules, new starts and fall sports. I haven't even looked at my blog since June 14th, so I've had a nice long break. I find it difficult to sit at the computer when the weather is gorgeous and a body just wants to move, so rather than force myself to blog, I let it go. I've missed it. I enjoy the connection it gives me to folks who say they enjoy reading what I write. It somehow completes the whole purpose of writing to have an audience and when I consider all the spiral notebooks sitting in a closet full of my daily rants and ponder the purpose of writing it all, I can only imagine that it took that much writing to develope my confidence to come out as a blogger. I am back. Resuming my blog is my return to school or my fall sport...my ritual walk into fall. I've decided to start a whole new blog to celebrate my 60th year and the beginning of the rest of my life. My focus is clear. Although I can become easily sidetracked by pop culture, the November election and several pet causes...like the Tar Sands issue and the melting of the Arctic icecap...I see my purpose. As I set out to seek my bliss, or redefine it for my new decade in life, I keep coming up with the same answer...The Wild. Where do I look to restore my soul? The wild. Where do I seek adventure and explore the unknown? In the wild. Where do my mentors live? In the wild. Where does my inspiration to keep on keeping on come from? The wild. Where do I find my favorite foods? Foraging in the wild. What stirs my deepest anger? The useless desecration of our wild lands for the continued use of fossil fuels that WILL run out and the abuse of aboriginal peoples who know how to live in a peaceful harmony with all of nature. I have no faith in the American political system. In fact I have lost faith in nearly every American system. It's unfortunate, but perhaps the first step in getting down to the truth. The truth is not very pretty either but I prefer basing my life on what is rather than on myths that are a source of brainwashing...so I am staying out of politics. I've had my fill of commitees and meetings where people talk one thing and do another. They are boring and hardly ever achieve any kind of forward motion. The bottom line is money, greed and profit...these are the things that drive politics and government. Nope. Not for me. And you won't find me putting my trust in the rich male ego either. Thanks but no thanks to the priests, politicians and government officials with shady values and questionable motives. When I decide to get involved in a cause, it will be something I feel deep in my soul...something close to home. In the meantime, I offer myself up to the trees, the birds, the chanterelles and black trumpet mushrooms...the moose and bear and deer...the garter snakes and toads...the weeds and the wildflowers...and the shy inhabitants of the edges of things. I want to live with the brave heart of an individual who listens to the silence and hears of realities beyond the human perception...how is it for you, old stump in the brook covered with moss and alive with mushrooms? How about you Mr. Pileated Woodpecker? What would you say to "legitimate" rape? Mrs. Squirrel? If I sound mad...perhaps I am. Perhaps I have finally realized that the human world is full of betrayal and ruthless intent and for the most part...I dislike humans. And I certainly don't trust them. But the wild? Well...there is something you can trust. The Hummers will be gone soon...the males have already headed toward South America, leaving the females and the kids to grow stronger for another week or two before they too head south. Like clockwork...they arrive in May and leave in September. I can trust that. I can trust the September rains to nourish the blossoming fall mushrooms and the changing colors of the deciduous trees. Winter will come. The ways of Mother Earth and her creatures are trustworthy even in their whimsy and unpredictablility...you can trust Mother Earth to be full of surprises.

So...I'm dedicating this blog to celebrating the wisdom of the wild...whispers though they are, the music I hear in the woods, from the weeds, and the trees...this will be my focus. My discipline will be to write weekly of the wild messages that come into my life and to celebrate the mystery and magic of the wild. I am that wild woman on the edge of the world and I want the heat of the Earth's core to fuel my words and inspire my life with meaning and purpose. And I can express what I hear without fear or paralyzing self doubt because I know who I am. I am that wild girl slipping her kayak into the still waters of indian summer...sliding noiselessly along like a turtle...moving slowly, quietly...listening to the birds, the fish and the pond lilies...happy to be part of this neverending stream of life and not willing anymore to be fully engaged in the ways of the world. Lucky me. At 60, I can be that tomboy child foraging for wild mushrooms...because at 60...I am wild and I am free.