When I first arrived at Casa Claire, I have to admit that Jack the Spruce captivated my attention. And why not? It was a magnificent creature.
It towers over the front of the house on Casa Claire and literally blocked the view of the front door from the street.
It provided a sense of privacy and created a natural grotto around the front entrance where the energy was different. That was before we put up the fence that runs around its outer perimeter and enclosed the front area so Claire and Honey could access the the last of the Casa Claire property. The JTS grotto was a place I felt safe when I sat there on the steps of the porch in the early hours of sleeplessness, sipping my coffee (Bronx pron. “caw-fee”).
We quickly started adding accessories to this wonderful creature, like various forms of chimes and spinners and all kind of repurposed nick-nacks, that all helped to draw out its personality.
A lot of these are gifts from other visitors who seem inspired to contribute to the expanding energy of the JTS Grotto.
Feral creatures, including a wild fox, started coming around and sitting on the front porch at night. The feral cats, most likely barn animals from the area, started to arrive and hang out more regularly. So we started feeding them.
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mccaffrey.233145/videos/1816411175893622
We placed heated bunkers under JTS, if they want to grab some sleep. One in particular, Smokey, has learned to come inside the house during the winter.
But returned outside, like an Irish Tinker, once the weather got nice. Of course, our neighbors’ dogs heard about the soup kitchen and often come by to clean up the left overs, sometimes before they are left over. And that’s okay.
Inspired by JRRT’s Ents in LOTR, Jack the Spruce became a living character in The Wise Ass as a protector of Casa Claire, and indeed saves Gina’s life by pinning Dan P’s arm as he tries to draw on her before she finishes him at the end. For those who give a shit, I literally added that moment as the very last edit to the final manuscript after it had already been turned into the publisher. I wanted to reflect that JTS was indeed a living creature. It is to me.
JTS watches over the creatures that visit daily.
I posted a video a while ago where I will swear that a fairy flew past my video camera while I filmed the energy of the JTS Grotto early one morning. I know I posted it on social media.
I’ll add it if I can locate it.
But here’s Mike/Mittens coming out of a bunker for a meal.
But after a few years focusing on Jack the Spruce, I started to pay attention to the other trees on Casa Claire.
The Old Man is a large Tree in the front property that appears to be the progenitor of all of the other trees in the front area through an extensive underground root system. https://www.nationalforests.org/blog/underground-mycorrhizal-network
When I first arrived at Casa Claire, before I had completely enclosed the area with a split rail fence, I only went out front to check on the gnomes and whirligigs. But I didn’t hang around there.
The Old Man was in sad shape. A large section of one of its main trunks and some of the larger branches had rotted out and fallen down. Lisa kept pushing me to cut the entire tree down.
But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
So instead, once I got the outer perimeter fence up, so the the Mules, Blue and Jeter (and now Smokey and Bandit) could have free access to that area, I placed a large water trough underneath its canopy to draw the animals – including all of the local birds – under it as a centralizing force.
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mccaffrey.233145/videos/733818832309397
Then I took an old hand made ladder I had found in a sealed off back room under the back deck and leaned it onto The Old Man to invite the eye and humans (or other creatures like my grans) to investigate. Then we started adding chimes that I repurposed from a couple of large, hand made DIY stand alone versions that had fallen apart before my arrival at Casa Claire and whose pipes lay in the corner of my garage.
Then we added elf houses and other mystical nick-nacks around its base.
Finally, I added one of the deck chairs that I rarely sat in on the back deck, because it gets too hot too quickly in the sunshine.
I started to spend time sitting just under its canopy when the weather allowed, often reading, and sometimes just enjoying the wind and its corresponding sounds of nature.
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mccaffrey.233145/videos/1220780019490833
I began to go out to The Old Man at various points during the night when I let the dogs out, and do some wonderful barefoot grounding and tree hugging in the soft and rich earth that extended below the circumference of its canopy.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C401vDhxM83/
Which, of course, allows me to tap into its toroidal energy.
https://medium.com/@no.fritz99/trees-torus-fields-brain-heart-coherence-bf2cbc59fede
And I noticed that the other trees that are part of the root highway started to reawaken and flourish in the front property, like The Ladies who guard the front driveway.
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mccaffrey.233145/videos/1378137276732362
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mccaffrey.233145/videos/707046052265162
But I believe that what really brought The Old Man back on-line was that by providing these superficial additions and spending some time interacting with it gave the old tree a renewed sense of purpose.
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mccaffrey.233145/videos/1427001585394496
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mccaffrey.233145/videos/1279387317111425
And as I sit here thinking about it, my arrival eight years ago and continued existence at Casa Claire, my meeting Claire the Mule, who often joins me and the Beagle Brothers during times of contemplation under The Old Man,
https://www.facebook.com/tom.mccaffrey.233145/videos/1339133773833080
https://www.facebook.com/100091444194790/videos/pcb.628722040185930/1424322988807578
has provided this Old Man his own new purpose in life.
So, if there are any lessons to derive from my thoughts this morning, is that we are never too old or far gone to find a new purpose to give us meaning in life.
So go out there and find your purpose.
Most of all, let’s make today a great one (for Renee).
2 Responses
I’m really happy you found your way back to your purpose of sharing your blogs with us. You always give a different perspective to the life and growth that surrounds Casa Claire. Though I will probably never get to see or walk those beautiful grounds I love what you share as you bring them to life with your detailed descriptions. I feel as if I can imagine being right there, smelling and listening to all the life that encompasses Casa Claire. Thank you!
Let’s make today a great one! (I had to say it… I’ve missed that!)