Category Archives: nature is awesome

New Day in the Park

Finally the weather is giving us a break.  Bright sunshine streams onto the pond.  I am watching a small flock of diving ducks.  They always make me smile when I see their oversize Mohawk shaped heads.

I see a few joggers and others strolling around the pond.  Of course the “bird lady” is there.  She is a hefty older woman who lugs a big shiny camera around the park.  She is there most days taking endless photos of the birds, the pond and the water.

There he goes!  Walking the power line like a tightrope walker.  He follows an intricate path of wires and trees limbs to cross the busy street in front of my house.  I’m amazed at how clever the grey squirrels are.

The leaves still cover the lawn.  They’ve been flattened and crushed by the weight of ice and snow.  I’m confident that the grass will fight its way through eventually although maybe that is just a way of avoiding the hours of raking that I know I should do.

The old retiree stops at the fire hydrant across the street with his two French bulldogs.  Why the fascination with fire hydrants I wonder?  His thin grey haired wife starts her brisk walk around the park leaving him with his two portly companions.  They are back at the fire hydrant again.  There must be something about the shape that is inviting to canines.

 

Dream

I stood next to the edge the water and saw a tail fin flip above the surface.  The waves lapped on the shore and a glimpse of an arched grey blue body appeared.  Soon other tails and curves took their turns to rise out of the water.

Suddenly a large smooth animal, a porpoise, or maybe a Beluga whale, surfaced inches away from the shore.  I hesitated, reached forward and stroked its skin.  It didn’t recoil and seemed to enjoy the touch.  It stared right back at me.  Oohs and ahhs came from the crowd on the shore.  The whale dove under the water and emerged a few feet away.  Until my dying day I will remember how that whale smiled at me.

Early times

Can you imagine what it was like for early humans?  Pitch black night, so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face.  Frost or even ice and snow on the ground.  Predators lurking.  How did they possibly survive until the next day?

They must have slept fitfully.  Waking in the morning, they went out to seek food and water.  They solved problems that would stump contemporary humans.  In the end,   the unbroken chains they forged stretch across millenniums, from mitochondrial “Eve” to our mothers and sisters.