Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Morning Observations

These notes are from my journal this morning. The photo was taken last Friday morning along the Au Sable River.

It’s 7 AM and the temperature is cool for the last day of June. 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the thermometer says. My toes agree as they rest on the concrete floor of the back porch, rocking the swing back and forth. I’m reading the last essays in Wild Comfort by Kathleen Dean Moore. I pause and look up in time to see two young fawns, their spots prominently displayed, wobble out of the woods at the corner of the back lot. I wonder where their mom is at. They look around for a moment, and then retreat back under cover. Two squirrels are running around a pine tree, they could be playing a game of tag, but that’s not likely. In the distance, a mourning dove coos, sounding like a mournful owl. A dozen or more other birds are singing. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I notice the doe and the two fawns, moving out into the field behind the house, where hay has freshly been cut (by headlight at 11 PM last night, I’m sure there is a city ordinance against doing such work late at night). The deer family moves down into the draw, out of sight. I then see, in the maples along the fence line between the house and the field, a couple other squirrels are playing their game of tag. I return to my essay:


Gladness lifts the natural world out of the merely mundane and makes it wonderful, and reminds us that when we use the sacred stuff of our lives for human purposes, we must do so gratefully and responsibly, with full and caring hearts…” (151)


Pausing, I hear the squirrels again in the nearby pines and look up to see them together, their tails side by side, wagging in unison.
I feel voyeuristic, watching their ungraceful movements and listening to their sharp claws dig at the bark for footing. Soon, it’s over and they run off to the ends of separate branches to preen themselves and maybe even smoke a cigarette.


The shadows cast by the sun as it rises above the treetops are long. I close my book and head off for a breakfast meeting.

16 comments:

  1. This is the kind of flavor I always enjoyed in reading Thoreau. but have you been in prison yet?

    all kidding aside, lovely writing. I was there.

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  2. As the trees matured in my yard, I started seeing more squirrels...smart little buggers, except for having sex in trees!

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  3. Great post, one which causes me to wax regretful as I sit in my office.

    Cheers.

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  4. What I wouldn't give to be able to climb trees as easily and be able to sit on top as fearlessly as a squirrel. If that were the case, there would be no need for a chair on my back deck.

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  5. You truly have a gift for words. Few see the splendor of this world as you. Brilliant simplicity...I am once again impressed.

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  6. Hi Sage, what a beautiful piece of writing! I am glad to know you live in such an idyllic setting. BTW fifty degrees is what we have in Aust right now, but thats our winter. So cant complain really. xx

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  7. I love watching the squirrels. I haven't seen them quite as frisky as the ones you were watching.

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  8. Having a Hound, we've trained each other to get up early of a morning. I see the Dawn on most days. Some more spectacular than others.
    It's the Dusk on these late evening that I see less and less of.

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  9. That is such an amazing way to awaken, and share the world. I would love where you are, especially the wildness. You're right- we shared the same morning :)

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  10. You are in an amazing world, I think. Even the squirrels seem to know it's a great place to live.

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  11. sounds like you are in the most enchanting place...was just camping last week myself. out by the lake i watched a turtle lay her eggs...an amazing experience...

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  12. You caught me up in your writing. I almost thought I was there.

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  13. Not a bad way to start a day.

    I see lots of squirrels and rabbits on the golf course. I talk to them--not long conversations, just simple greetings. Still, it always draws an interesting look from my playing partner(s).

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  14. Sage, you tell a great story, and paint a great picture in my mind's eye. I wish I had your talents to write, and I wish I had your backyard. I too enjoy watching the wildlife in backyard, and I'm grateful for the occasional squirrel, and the occasional colorful bird. No deer, just dog.

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  15. I'm trying to figure out how you have time to journal, too...?

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