Dreamtime stories with Jackie for big and little people.
Dobby walking in the forest.
Sometimes if a story I'm listening to to help me fall asleep is too engaging,
I end up too filled with curiosity and this keeps me following along the plot line.
So I thought the kind of stories that my kids used to like,
Not out of a book,
Kind of just meandering,
Might be something gentle and joyful and would be something easy to fall asleep to.
So here is a tale of my favorite tail wagger dog,
Dobby,
My grand doggy.
Let us begin.
Today Dobby and I are up for an adventure.
At twelve and a half pounds,
This wee mini Jack Russell is a bundle of energy.
Her little legs are about the size of a Tootsie Roll chocolate candy log.
They are muscular and very strong,
Particularly her haunches.
She needs a lot of exercise because that is what this doggy breed thrives on.
So I call her over to me and I put on her harness.
She gets excited.
We take a short drive in the car to get to a forest nearby.
Dobby loves car rides.
She sits in the back seat and watches every move I make.
Sometimes I just have to giggle at her because she watches me so intently I feel like she is the original backseat driver,
Trying to be sure I'm doing everything a good driver is supposed to do.
Blinkers on before a turn,
Full stop at a stop sign,
Going the correct speed,
And so on.
We get to the parking lot and the sky looks cloudy and gray.
I'm pretty sure it is going to rain on our walk.
I don't mind.
I grab my rain jacket.
I leash her up and we get out of the car.
Dobby is so excited.
Her tail,
Her tiny nub of a tail is wiggling back and forth.
She can hardly wait to get walking because she just has to sniff every fern and tree.
The path we take is made up of leaves and pine needles and the soft dust from all these crushed beneath lots of feet.
I think they call that duff.
I love that name.
As we wind our way down the path,
The trees on each side form an overhead canopy where they meet.
There is a soft rustling sound as the breeze picks up.
Other than that gentle sound,
It is so quiet.
I breathe in the earth smell and listen with keen ears to the leaves dancing up above.
We walk around a bend and I begin to hear water rushing and gurgling over rocks.
I can see nothing through the trees yet.
And then a little further along,
We come to a clearing and find a waterfall.
I love waterfalls so much.
This one is not steep but loud and rambling and it falls onto large rocks just below it to form a pool.
Before that pool feeds into another fall of water over boulders.
We stop.
Dobby is intent on looking at the waterfall.
I savor the sound.
I close my eyes to listen to the burbling and rushing.
Oh,
What is it about waterfalls that attracts me so?
This one is gentle and low keyed.
Over the years,
I've seen waterfalls of many different sizes.
Some are so forceful and powerful.
Coming down from great heights to pound into deep pools below,
Throwing up mists so high and dense.
Not like the mighty Niagara Falls.
That was the first waterfall I ever saw when I was young.
That is a very strong and powerful waterfall.
Some waterfalls are more gentle and roaming,
Running into pools from a smaller ledge.
I love them all so much.
I always feel a spark of joy when I hear the fall of water that seems to speak to my very heart.
Dobby is getting eager to move along now,
Signaling by her pool on the leash that waterfall appreciation time is over.
We follow the path to the left away from the waterfalls.
As more trees come between us and the falls,
The sound dims and eventually is lost.
But now I hear another quiet sound,
The plop of raindrops on broad leaves.
It is just a few drops,
Then a few more,
Falling high above us on the uppermost leaves in the canopy of trees that shields us from any moisture.
It is soft and musical in an erratic rhythm,
Kind of like plop,
Plop,
Plop,
Plop,
Plop,
Plop.
Still,
We are protected from any of those droplets falling on us.
I can just imagine those upper leaves drinking in the drops.
Dobby hears it too.
She stops to listen.
Her body all a quiver with concentration.
Is it the rain she hears?
Or an animal?
Dog ears are so much better than humans at hearing the full range of sounds.
We walk further on and hear the sides of the trail are filled with ferns.
I love ferns.
These are about waist high on me and lacy soft looking as they sway in the breeze.
Below the high ones I see shorter ones with fronds like swords.
And over there on the other side of the path are ferns that look like small palm trees.
They have not yet gotten a drink from the rain,
But soon I imagine they will shimmer with the diamond drops on their leaves.
Up we climb to a little clearing beyond the forest path.
We look out that way,
But that meadow is not on our route.
It is a private meadow enclosed by an old wooden fence.
We wind our way back into the forest,
Dobby skittering from one side of the path to another,
Noting with her nose all the passersby before us.
Were there skunks?
Maybe foxes?
Coyotes?
Maybe a mole or a mouse?
Or a chipmunk?
Maybe a squirrel?
I'm sure Dobby's keen nose can discern each smell's owner,
But not me.
And now the patter of rain becomes a little heavier.
The drops accumulated from the higher canopy take on more moisture and begin to reach us on the forest floor.
It is lovely.
I turn my face up to the drops and take in the myriad of smells those drops have gathered on their way down to me from the sky.
So now the rain has begun in earnest,
And it falls pretty steadily on us.
Dobby pulls on the leash.
She wants to return to the shelter of our car.
She doesn't really like the rain very much,
And she dislikes wearing a raincoat even more.
So I guess our adventure for today will come to an end.
We arrive back at the car,
And I grab the car towel and I dry her off.
She snuggles down in a blanket that I keep for her in the back seat,
Turns around a couple times,
Settles down into the folds of the blanket,
And in a minute her eyes close,
And she is off in doggie dreamland as we drive home with the gentle rain on the roof as our soundtrack for the ride home.
I hope you enjoyed our outing in the forest.
Stay tuned for more Dreamtime stories with Jackie and some other Dobby adventures.
Good night now,
And have a wonderful sleep.
