Seasons of Me!

"A glimpse into the life of a birder, beach comber, self taught naturalist, an antique dealer, and junker! There are many seasons that happen here!"

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

~ A Summer of Seeing ~
















Always I have seen the beauty of the birds, the butterflies and damselflies, the bees and the bugs, the flowers and the trees. I have seen the beauty of the skies, the clouds, and the rain. But this summer...I have really seen. Something this summer seems different--something has seemed to change. A new inner peace has seemed to find me ~ I am learning more of the things of importance, of how to slow down and take the time for the beauty that is before each and every one of us if we only elect to see...

This summer I have looked out and over the wooded hillsides and I have seen green as I have never seen before. My eyes have scanned and felt the wildflowers, a simple cabbage white butterfly caught my eye. I have watched a ruby-throated hummingbird display to his mate in wide arcs and seen a male cardinal lovingly and gently feed his gal a sunflower seed. I have seen him display to her in his head held high and arched tail flight singing all the while. I am learning that it is okay to play in the rain. I watched a monarch caterpillar grow before my eyes and baby robins learn to fly. I have seen the biggest and puffiest of cumulous clouds ever to see. Daily I watched robins bathe and preen in my yard and nightly have listened to the un-ending songs of a mockingbird. Amazed by his repotoire as I kept track of how many different birds he mimicked and took to the clues that he has not always been a neighborhood bird by the songs he sang of birds that are not in my "hood". A cecropia moth took my breath away while a zebra swallowtail bedazzled me. Chuck-wills-widows lulled me and a displaying male turkey impressed even me along with the females he was in front of. I have looked upon the young of tree swallows, bluebirds, and carolina chickadees. I have trembled at the song of a wood thrush and have cried at the sight of a blue grosbeak lying dead on the road. I watched a tree swallow retrieve a feather lost from its nest and I ached over the beauty of the color of its feathers. I have looked a bee eye to eye on a butterfly bush. Cricket frogs have revebrated through my heart and my ears perked up immediately upon hearing the annual cicadas strike up a chord. Chimney swifts chittered to me incessantly and I was refreshed by the rain. I looked upon lightning bugs as I have not done since I was a little girl. I watched terns take flight and imagined in my mind what their view from above was like. I have felt the tips of "my wings" get wet while following along with the pelicans. I have felt the fog--the fog felt me....I have teetered with turkey vultures in flight and watched red-tail hawks soar beyond my eyes capabilities and have still been with them! Fowler toads and american toads sang extra loud this year or am I just more tuned in? Instead of me trying to wind my eyes around the tree trying to see the red-headed woodpecker--he wound his around to see me. Face to face with a nashville warbler I was while a magnolia warbler sang above. I waded along side the skates and admired their graceful ways...I righted a horse shoe crab and helped her get back on her way and then I traveled with her in my mind for days! I picked up sea pansies as if from a field and felt the wonder of nature that was right at my heels. I looked down through the calm ocean waters and found big whelks. I seen the passions of mated terns and felt real honored to be in their world. Baby great horned owls discovered me....Flocks of cedar waxwings flew overhead and I noticed their oneness in their wispy calls. Colors were more vibrant and songs were well heard. The skies seemed bigger and deeper and the moons were deeper full. The smallest of sights were big in my eyes. Milkweed and butterfly weed have been loaded full. I watched the rushed pace of a big water beetle scurry away from the morning light. Last night the katydids began--marking the mark of a "certain" seasons end.

Observations that I made seemed so unreal but so feeling....open and one, vibrant and free, the smallest of counts all included and seen. This account of seeing could go on and on as that is how much I seen...I hope the summer of seeing never ceases to be.




3 comments:

  1. Whew, what a busy summer so far. It is delightful to read what all you have seen. It is wonderful that you have taken time to see it all and absorb the wonders of nature. It is so good for the soul.

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  2. I think you, Lisa at Greenbow, know just how good for the soul it is!

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  3. I understand your love affair with nature.
    All too often we forget to look around and see the wonders that mother earth offers each and every day. I to am inspired by the wonders that are around us all.......

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