It's All About the Little Things

Several weeks ago, I was traveling from Ohio back to Indiana.  It was a stunningly beautiful January day when I left Kent, Ohio.  It was one of those "sky is clear blue with tiny strands of white clouds hanging like lace curtains" days.  Exquisite travel day.  It was one of those days when if I had been hiking, I would have noticed details like bugs on leaves, tiny pine cones in the grass, how the sun forms rainbows on leaf dew.  I am sure you've had days like that. 

But I was driving.  Home.  I instead I turned my thoughts inward to family, friends, love and beauty and the timelessness of enjoying NOW.  The winter sun, absent or clouded in winter in NE Ohio shone brightly and warmed the interior of the car, it felt just like summer and oh how good this felt at this moment to have that warmth on my fingers clutching the wheel and on my face.  Soaking up the much need Vitamin D.  Welcoming that light in that moment, opened my heart.

As I was driving, I noticed small birds flying and ugly trash blowing across the road...the contrast of beauty and ugliness, reminders that living in the moment means accepting what we judge as good or bad and dealing with it without judgement because it is just THERE in that moment and like trash blowing across the road or birds flying across one's line of sight it will be gone in the next moment.  For me this brings freedom; freedom to not be burdened by little birds that fly into your life or trash that blows through.

At the end of the day, I was greeted by the most beautiful sunset I've seen in a long time. It capped off a day where I was thankful for the tiniest thing.  The colors of that sunset blended into the most spectacular colors, pinks, purples, dusty blues and yellows.  It filled my warm heart with such gratefulness.  I felt as if Mother Nature had painted that for me so that I'd remember for a long time that if you let things build up inside, if you spend your moments dwelling on the what ifs and what wills of life you miss the what is right there in front of yous. 

 And it is in these moments, the right now moments where inspiration and gratitude reside.  I love looking at the big picture but also that day was reminded of all the little pieces that build up to make that big picture.  If you walk too fast with your eyes all the way into the future, you miss the building blocks upon which that big picture rests.  

Earth Day 2012

I started birding because of my crazy Zoology teacher.  It was in 10th grade that I made the fateful decision to take this course, a sort of next step to my Biology class I'd taken the year before.  I wanted to be a Vet and the more science I took the better.  In Biology, we'd had a lot of fun dissecting things, goofing off with the animals kept in the lab (reptiles) and scaring people with these same reptiles...you know fun stuff.  I expected more of the same in Zoology.

                                                    

I ended up with the less stuffy teacher.  He was a lot of fun, a little crazy, there wasn't much structure in the class except somehow during all the dissecting we learned things like phylum and species and how to put paper hats on Ascaris worms and diaper ,cats.  Science was fun because our teacher, despite his best efforts to make it boring, couldn't.  He loved it too and allowed us to explore, ask questions, discover.  The other class was much more structured and was taught by a very strict guy. Not that they didn't learn but we got the impression that there was no high jinx or cat diapering going on in his class.

 

In the spring, we all looked forward to two very special field trips, both were supposed to expose us to the scientific observation of the avian species. Extra credit points were up for grabs aside from the very real opportunity to get credit for playing outside for 2 Saturdays. That was what I expected...instead I found it exciting when I found a Scarlet Tanager in a tree down by Sugar Creek singing in a tree.  It was like a giant scavenger hunt with the one finding the most birds the winner. Most people just walked the trails, some guys took risks and ended up sliding down muddy cliffs and are 40 years later still be ribbed about it, others were stuck with the serious teacher and had to look for birds all day.  My group found ourselves doing a little of wandering and exploring and looking for birds.  That was the foundation which my love for birding was built upon. Wandering around, observing, exploring nature in its glory.

So, today, I have a life list which I relish adding to. I lust for high powered, expensive binoculars and have my eye on the new Crosley birding book and a book on feathers.  I keep my naturalist's bag ready in my car at all times loaded with my Sibley's guide, wildflower book and bug jars.  In fact, I think this class actually was the beginning of my life as an official nature watcher. I had always been curious but never knew that I could actually write, observe and keep track of what I saw and that this lifelong obsession would then lead to deep knowledge and understanding about how life itself works.  So, on this Earth Day 2012...get out, ask questions and have fun!  Nature is addicting. lets love it and do what needs to be done to save it!

It's a Sunny Day!

It definitely feels like spring today.  There still is a nip in the air that doesn't quite go with the beautiful sunshine, however, there is that imperceptible 'smell' to the air that signals to me the shift in weather.  I can't really explain it except it smells like melting, an easing up, a release of the grip that hard winter has had.  Except this year, winter's turned out to be a weakling. 

Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed not having to shovel the car off and shiver in my living room to warm up in the morning but I miss my snow.  I was definitely going to learn how to cross country ski this year and everyday do a circuit or two of my 2 acres to keep in shape.  Cross off the cross country...NO snow, no sledding down the scary hill, no cold, red cheeks, no snowshoeing, no skiing or beautiful pictures of snow covered fields in Northeast Ohio this year. Nope, its 50 plus degrees outside today and the March wind is blowing.

 

Goldfinch Changing Colors a Month Early

So, what has this crazy weather done to the wildlife?  Well, the birds have eaten off the ground all winter or caught bugs and not had to depend upon us for food.  Those marginal migraters have only gone down to Canton for the winter or haven't left at all.  So, the birds that are harbingers of spring rolled into our area this week; Red-Winged Blackbirds, singing their spring 'gunkladee' song are now starting to look for nesting sites in the marshes around me.  A Grackle was pigging out on my suet feeder today and the Starling presence at my feeder is multiplying. Skunks wandering in a post-hibernation sleep walk ended up on the side of the road taking a most disappointing nap. The poor raccoon is so sleepy from staying up most of the winter he probably is in counseling for sleep deprivation issues.  The squirrels are fat and going on a weight loss program.

 

Human Gathering Winter Comfort Food

We humans have survived over the eons because we were able to learn and adapt to changing weather patterns.  Huddling in caves when snow hits, reliving the myths and  stories and working on repairing tools and things, socializing and building a society while weather forced us to shelter together.  It still brings us together over beer and brats after a snowshoe trip into the mountains, chili bubbling on the stove with hot cornbread in the oven for 15 after sledding or my favorite, steaming, spicy chicken soup with fat noodles to not only soothe the sore throat but to hit head on the germs with spicy seasonings. 

I think it is the juxtaposition of cold vs hot, life-threatening vs life-supporting, community vs solo that makes the normally difficult season of winter so interesting.  I've missed that livin' on the edge and huddling  together against a common foe this year.  BUT, we still have High School Basketball tourney time, there is still a chance for bad weather....and you Hoosiers know what I'm talkin' about.