A shrine in the forest

(2022) In Our Lady of Psoriasis, I write:

(2023) I walk past an abandoned shrine every time I go on my forest walk. In November I decide to clean it. I offer pieces of bark to La Dame aux écorces (The Lady of Barks) every time I go there.

A few months later when I return from holiday, all the barks have been discarded. The shrine has been claimed, with red thread, a coin, a flag. I find a new shrine for my barks and my lady. The first impulse is to provide shelter and to clean.

I bring barks to the shrine every time I am in the forest, and my daughter enjoys coming here with me and drawing eyes on stones with charcoaled twigs of pine trees.