Still: to be placed in a solid form, and then to stay in it. When a beer is still, it is without the movement of life. When a plant forms a stalk, it is stiff and steady. When a cow is set in place, it is in a stall, or still. When a child is stillborn, it is born without movement or life. The young garter snake below went still a week ago so I would think it was a stalk and pass on. I did, but not before breaking its stalled motion and shoo-ing it off the path, out of the way of bicycles and dogs, who don’t much appreciate stillness, either of them, except the mute energy of stones, which are stillness without the energy of being set in place and being held in balance.