The Apple Tree treated us well last week. The tree shed a large limb that needed to come off; it fell without harming anything but the two old plastic chairs we used to sit out with the donkeys. Both were crushed when the limb fell.

It seems the apple wood is prized by artists and makes a great stool to sit on or table. I want one for my office. One of my favorite things is to sit out in the pasture and commune with our donkeys. Donkeys are deeply spiritual creatures; once I sit down in the chairs, they take their time and come drifting over to me, standing close and waiting for their ear rubs, scratching, and nose rubbing. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy doing that or how calming and grounding it is.

Donkeys rarely show emotion, present themselves, and leave when they are done. No tail wags, licks, wiggles of excitement.  But the chairs have never been comfortable for me.

Maria is just the right height to scratch and brushes them. I am a little too tall to be comfortable and have too much arthritis to bend over for long.

Today, I went out to the pasture for my daily afternoon commune with Lulu and Fanny (Lulu had finally forgiven me for sending her away for six months eight years ago when I had my crack-up ten years ago.) To my surprise, there was a beautiful, thick, and sturdy chunk of wood from the apple tree. Actually, there were five or ten.

My face and arms are the same height as the donkeys’ heads when I sit on them.

I spent a beautiful half-hour cleaning their ears, rubbing their necks, and cleaning their ears (they can’t reach the bug bites). They each put their heads on my shoulder and closed my eyes; they were in bliss, and Maria said she had rarely seen me smile like that. We had the sweetest time together, the best in a good long while.

I fell in love with these trunk sections, soon to be cut up for firewood. I called Mike Conklin and said I wanted to save two, one for my study and one for the pasture. He thought it was a great idea, and so did Maria. He’ll come over soon with a dolly and get the two best stools into the barn to dry out, and then, in a month or so, we’ll get them into the house and the pasture.

I was smiling because this made me very happy. I love spending time with the donkeys, and they like it also. The tree stool will give me a perfect place to sit and spend time with them, and I am very excited about having another log in my study next to my chair. I’ll put water or tea or the Iphone on it.

So strange how these things work. The apple tree is healthier now; we have a chunk of free firewood, two beautiful wooden stools to sit on, and no harm to fences, people, or animals. (I don’t count the two plastic chairs.) It felt like a catastrophe for a few minutes. Then it felt like a small miracle.