kinds of bivouacking

these days we are mostly living outside. partially because we have been blessed with a rare coolness, and partially because when we are not blessed, the house inhales deeply of the hot air and doesn't let it out till the stars have long been out. this is, i think, an important part of being a human who seeks to identify with their animal insides. for while we can, of course, be sustained by the tiny altars everywhere inside our nests...

it is good to feel the wind move our hair, to smell what is bloom (here we have flax flowers, yarrow, chamomile, mint, indian paintbrush and burdock,) and to seek out a translation of what the magpies are always talking about when they take up a mighty racket in the groves. 

it is good also, i think, to share company with other things that spend only part of their days outside and to feel out how a living space is different than a loitering space. not a curbside, not a parking lot, not a food truck, not even parade-side bivouac. a living space outside demands that personal dimensions be honed and lined up. it seems like it is mostly a great dragging of shares and resettling of pots. but in the end, and it is a late end because August is almost here, it feels right. and then coming inside starts to feel wonky and slanted. and somehow that feels triumphant! if only for a short while.