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 In my Live Oak World now Lives a Dwarf

She’s become my friend, despite belonging to the squirrel family :) ­ hard to believe. From the beginning I thought she was special, a cute new baby, but several weeks later she is still the same size – surprise – sailing along elegantly…. Her stunning agility makes her stand out even in squirrel world. I call her Silvana, woman of the woods. This morning as I am pruning the Elder, she came by for a chat, eyeing me flirtatiously as always, and then she went on to nibble at the neighbor's figs. Silvana’s curious gaze and her delicate physique remind me of the German grey squirrels I grew up with. Everyone thought they are cute. But here in California we are used to the huge monster squirrels, fattened up by endless food supply, ravaging our plums, apples and more.

Every morning –­ through my bedroom cottage’s skylights – I see Silvana high in the oaks, going way out on limbs harvesting the last acorns, bouncing precariously at the very end of thinnest branches way up high in the sky. And then at lightning speed she is flying across the freeways of sturdy thick branches down to earth to hide her treasures in the moist ground. I am awed, and inevitably I feel tickled with joy by Silvana’s daring and beautiful movements, her blithe and purposeful ways.

Nature is full of blessed irregularities, that go for the most part unnoticed by us. Only humans are obsessed with norms and “norming.”  Yeah, I did not know that squirrels in my garden could once in a while come in dwarf size – nature ready to try out something new.  To behold Silvana jumping and soaring high in the oaks' canopies is breathtaking.

Comments

  1. Alex KNovember 21, 2021 at 12:13 PM

    I think I've fallen in love with Silvana, or at least with your observation of her:). Also leaves me thinking about "norming" how oppressive and heart constricting it can be.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KarinaNovember 21, 2021 at 4:45 PM

    every day i wondered, if she will grow, but no, Silvana is and stays dwarf size, definitely not sick or malnourished, just herself :) in the past 20 years the culture and business have become one huge "norming" machine, of course most "subjected" to it don't even notice...

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