The Unsettling Wind....

It's such a beautiful day today, twenty-six degrees, blue skies and glorious sunshine, however a cyclonic wind is blowing across the farm (as it often does down this neck of the woods), leaving me feeling completely rattled. This always happens! I get such an unsettling feeling and I don't know why?

My animals do too. My horse can't stand the wind and I watch him trot around the paddock, seeming like he doesn't know where to comfortably stand. My cat finds himself a confined, quiet, private place to hide and I don't see him for hours, and the cattle all sit huddled in a mob and situate themselves so that their behinds are facing the wind.

Meanwhile, our house (which is only six years old) sounds like it's falling down around our ears, with some of the doors whistling and windows rattling. Our poor little kitten, which hasn't been allowed to venture outside yet, becomes frightened and looks at us with a scared, questionable expression on her tiny, innocent face.

Strange how the wind can have such a negative effect. Is it because it's ferocious and controlling and scoops up everything it can in its way? When I work on the farm, it almost pushes me over from behind or does its best to forbid me to move forward when I'm attempting to walk. How dare it try and manipulate me, as if it has a mind of its own. Or maybe it has? Maybe it's the violence of the gale that rattles me. A gentle breeze is lovely, especially when the weather is warm, however the aggression of strong winds is not at all pleasant, constantly and literally slapping me in the face.

The easterly winds are the worst of all. The fish don't bite, the tide is never as high as usual because the wind attempts its best to keep the water from travelling up the river, the usually quiet cattle are stirred up and frisky, and the land becomes dangerously dry. Most people I speak with complain about the difficult and challenging 'easterly gale'.

However, the only option is to make friends with the wind – somehow.... and I remind myself it will pass. Sometimes after a day or sometimes after a week, but it always passes. Then I can once again appreciate the stillness, and my environment returns to balance and serenity – until the next determined gale force wind rears up, which will no doubt unsettle and rattle me all over again....