Splendor and promises

The splendor of his majesty!    
  

I can’t help but to carry my camera everywhere with me these days!  Esp. this fall!  I just want to capture every magnificent moment …every sunset…every color and every bit of nature that is popping so vividly, so vibrantly before me!   

I see beauty in the shadow on the old oak tree outside my window…the way the sun casts a display of wide lines which resemble a music sheet across the massive trunk and in the upper the left, the shadow resembles a half note which says let the music begin!  
  
Songs are in the air…a song of the cardinal; the bluebird; even the red headed woodpecker which calls to his mate in between hammering thumps on the sturdy, solid trunk of wood he so diligently works on.  Just below the hill at the edge of the tree is another shadow.  This one on the ground…more limbs stretched outward, creating a type of map across the lawn.  This map leads my eyes across the pavement and to the other side of the winding road where I notice deer tracks near the hedgerow.  My eyes are now on to a new quest... I search for the deer.  I turn my attention toward the back road which leads to a pond where the geese spend most of their time, and I see him…the very stout and apparently well fed buck…standing still, then moving slowly, stepping out cautiously, as if to say "I’ve been alive much too long to be careless…I must approach this open expanse carefully and continue to blend in  with the tree line".  He blends in so well...so well that I am sure there have been a multitude of times when I've missed him.  I’m sure I’ve walked right past him on many occasions, only to have him stand silently, motionless, watching every move we made!  

And to think, we are the one’s who love to observe nature…. 

      

     

while nature is observing us!

And do we realize just how well nature does observe? 
   
Along my walk, the squirrel stops and watches with a careful eye until it is safe to romp forward…but scurries up the tree to flee to safely if I get too close.  Think about the fly…how keen his eyesight is?!  Flitting to and fro; landing on a light, to a window, across to another, taunting us and as we approach, disappearing before our eyes can discern where he will land next!  The deer watches silently from behind the hedgerow; the chipmunks dive into their caves; the cat stops and watches, knowing he can outrun us if he has to; and the bird flies off as the child approaches with outstretched hand holding a morsel of bread and a look of wonder at its rejection of this great gesture.   

On and on I could go…as I observe nature and nature watches my every move.   And now I see that the painting on the trunk of the old oak has changed in these few moments of  my dialog…along with the road map on the lawn and across the pavement.  The squirrel has moved on; birds flew off in a different direction; buck vanished with the first passing car.   

Now another gift of nature taps me on the leg…makes a small murmur and tips its little head to the left then  right…ears perked...and I realize the promise I made to her just before I sat to write about this beautiful day…I promised her a ride in the car with with windows open; I promised her!  She hasn’t forgotten.  She, this little natural beauty, has been watching me this entire time and wants to hold me accountable!  For this, I also give thanks! 

I could sit and write about the splendor of nature without end.  Its beauty never ceases.  But if I don’t get up out of this chair and keep my promise, it will soon be dark and we might miss out on this gift of a sunny November day!   

Yes, Abby, my sweet little pup…I hear you and I am ready to keep my promise!