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| Red-headed Woodpecker - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison |
Of
course it does! I guess I'm trying to be metaphorical...or maybe
melancholy? Even I don't know. Maybe getting older has me thinking
about things too much. I was so used to saying to myself things like
"I've got to try and see those next July." Or maybe "We really should
take that trip to (fill in the blank) next summer. I'm not quite there
yet but so many things are now out of my reach - they were great ideas
but now no longer in the cards. Especially things like that long hike
or trek I always thought would be great to do...even some places I've
long had permission to walk with my camera are beginning to be out of
the question any more. If you haven't reached that place in your life,
it is sobering when they confront you, and you realize fully, I
shouldn't have kept putting it off. That is "life".
Lately,
when I'm up to it, I have been trying very hard to take each moment and
have fun with it. When I was younger, I was busy with things that
seemed important. Now I know so much of it wasn't. And now, everything
is (important).
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| Female Eastern Bluebird - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison |
We
have had such a fun year with nature here on our little postage stamp
sized acreage. Every day I try and watch and catch things before they
pass.
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| Cottontail Rabbit...rabbits make Georgie crazy! - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison |
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| Echinacea angustifolia in our pasture - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison |
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| Pearly Crescentspot (Phyciodes tharos) - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison |
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| Asclepias tuberosa in the pasture here - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison | |
|
Now
I haven't caught everything with the camera or easel of course...it's
just not possible. But what I miss stays with us in other ways - the
Yellow-billed Cuckoo which calls from high in the grove, we know its
there as it sings for us each day. Then there's the Eastern Wood Pewee
that we also hear each day; we do see it "fly catching" from the lower
branches around the yard, but often we only hear it talk to us.
The
morning chorus has been amazing. I used to try and record it with
audio equipment in past years...maybe succeeded in a small way but could
never do it justice! Always first seems to be the Robins, then the
Catbirds and Mourning Doves, then the Chipping Sparrows and the Orioles
and Meadowlarks and Dickcissels, House Wrens, and so many
others...sleeping with the windows open is a blessing!
We
have noticed those missing this year...we no longer hear the night time
calling of Sedge Wrens, and this year no juvenile Great Horned Owls or
summer Redtailed Hawks. Although the Great Blue Herons returned to the
Waterman Creek rookery this spring - they abandoned the rookery in June
and none raised their young here.
Not
every year is the same..some things change, and not always as we'd
wish. Although we still have our ash trees here in the acreage and in
the valley out front - there are farmsteads only a 5 minute trip from us
that are losing all of theirs as I speak. We are not far behind.
But
I will try and take in and enjoy in any way I can what is given to us
each day as it happens...each day is a gift! There is so much to see
and do and July only comes once a year.
Be good to one another out there - we truly need each other.
