Been a while since I've been able to post, but here I am.  A week ago last Saturday, I went to visit my Mom out in the countryside where she lives.  It's about an hour's drive away, and we were actually going for my daughter's birthday.  And I took our dog, Buster.  He's a beagle/american fox hound mix, and definately has the nose. We live in the city, in a small trailer park, and he doesn't get to run free very often.  He gets lots of walks, but never really gets to run. He used to try to escape out the front door, and when he did he'd lead us all on a merry chase through the neighborhood.  He doesn't try to escape as much now, but we still keep an eye out. Not everyone in our neighborhood is friendly to dogs, and he's a very trusting dog.  And many people don't really seem to watch when they drive, even had a kid get hit not too long ago. So he doesn't get to go free.

It was, by all accounts a wonderful, beautiful day, and I thanked the gods for it.  The sun was out, and it was giving us just enough warmth that I could go around in short sleeves, and not feel the cold.  As soon as we got there I let Buster go, and after greeting Mom's dogs, he ran, with his nose to the ground of course. We had some time to go before the other guests showed up (just a few friends and family) so Mom and I went out to the garden and spent some time picking her peppers and marigolds and pulling her old tomato plants up, and removing the cages that supported them through the growing season.

 Mom soon settled in to weed her blueberry bushes (all three of them) and I found a nice spot to lay back and watch the clouds. 

There weren't many, but the blue sky seemed to go forever.  The only audible sound was the whispering of the trees.  I laid my hands upon the earth and felt her settling in for the coming winter months.  Not quietly, not really.  The seeds may be slumbering but the small animals that help move them were surely burrowing.  The leaves, which have just begun to fall, were beginning to add their layer of security to the old growth from summer, a winter blanket in it's earliest stages.  The trees were humming with life, that last gasp before the long sleep.  I felt it all, and was again reminded that we are all connected to our home, whether we accept her or not. 

I felt that connection and was honored by it, and renewed by it as well.  I was drawing in energy without realizing (duh!) that I was doing it.  And when I finally got up, I was buzzing a bit.  And then the guests showed up so I didn't really get to do anything with it.

Mid way through the long afternoon, I realized I hadn't seen Buster for a while, and decided to try something I'd not done before.  I found a quiet spot and imagined myself as a dog, following his scent, and when I caught it I followed.  I used the imagery of the forest; the loamy soil, the rustly leaves, the smell of autumn in the air, and the scratchy bushes, to help me.  And when I felt him there, I told him that I needed him to come back, not to go home yet, but that I needed to see him.  I sent him images of the ear rubbings and back scratchings that would ensue.  Then I let go, came back to myself and went back to the gathering.

About a quarter of an hour later Buster loped into the yard, tongue hanging in a goofy grin.  He came right to me, (which he doesn't always come to me first, he's not just mine), and I gave him the promised reward and then some.  And so did everyone else. 

It worked!  Yay!

I did it again later in the evening, when I was ready to go home.  He took much longer that time, but I think he had gone farther afield.  He was exhausted too, the inside of his ears all scratched from the underbrush, and snuffling from all the gunk he'd inhaled from his travels.  He's always like that after a visit to Mom's though.  He was so tired that he had difficulty jumping up into the back of the car, and my daughter helped him up there.  Sometimes I worry about letting him do this, but he loves it so much.  And I do so love to seem him run.