The old guy (Hotei) sits in a sunny alcove in the garden under a canopy of old rose canes and buckthorn boughs. Birds serenade him in early morning, and rabbits visit him at nightfall. Bumbles and dragonflies buzz around him, spiders knit him into their webs, and sometimes butterflies land on him. There is a steady rain of maple keys, leaf dust and pine needles from the trees over his head.
He looks as though he is carved from stone, but he is actually made of some kind of polyresin and weighs only a pound or two. I discovered him in the window of a thrift shop many years ago, purchased him for a few coins and carried him home where he presides over a leafy enclave in the garden from early April until late October.
From October to April, the old guy hangs out in the potting shed. He is carried there with great pomp and circumstance when the garden is put to bed in late autumn, and the journey to his winter lodgings is a cherished seasonal ritual.
2 comments:
Rituals. The pomp and circumstance comment reminded me of how knit together my life is with rituals, both daily and seasonally!
and the spiders "knit him into their webs." Your turn of phrase is so right on!
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