Have you ever seen something that defies words? Living in the country I witness spectacles of nature that most people don't have the opportunity to see and if I tried to describe it they probably wouldn't believe me. Would you believe me if I told you that I actually stroked a wild blue bird? Once, while picking blackberries in the woods, I felt eyes staring at me and turned to find a doe and a fawn watching me. Or that one foggy night while driving home I saw a shrouded figure in the road, and when I started to open the car door it spread its magnificent wings and flew away? That was the first and last time I've ever seen a crane standing in the middle of the road in the gloom of night. Freaky and amazing at the same time.
But its the fire rain that always leaves me speechless. I've seen this phenomenon twice in my life. It comes in the late summer after a brutal thundershower sweeps through leaving the just turning leaves dripping with shimmering raindrops. Late afternoon, just at sunset, and I look into the woods and catch my breath at the sight of a wild fire heading straight for the house, then I realize that the golden, orange glow is the setting sun reflecting off the rain drenched leaves and I laugh with relief and weep at the beauty on display.
Twice, I've seen the fire and both times I've been the lone witness. My husband laughs at my fancies, but I treasure those glimpses into a world that only I have seen.
8 comments:
Where I live, in Montana, I have many opportunities to see the natural world up close in a lot of ways that are easy to take for granted. So I do my best not to. My dad and I went on a little "wildlife watching" expedition a couple weeks ago, and we were lucky to see a number of animals. I blogged about it here, if you're interested:
http://stumblingthewalk.blogspot.com/2010/03/rams-bears-and-wild-eyed-sewers-gettin.html
One of my favorite things to see is the Northern Lights. Absolutely breathtaking.
Wow, I've never seen fire rain, wish I would.
I happened to stop by your blog when you posted that, Chris, and really enjoyed the photos. Been following you're wife's progress in the fashion competition also. I envy her, I can't sew a stitch except to mend seams. The Northern Lights must be amazing to see.
The trick is getting nature to line everything up just perfectly for you, Conda. :-)
I've never seen fire rain or the Northern Lights. I feel deprived.
But, Naomi, you must have seen some spark of magical nature in your life! Sometimes its as small as a red-tailed hawk wheeling in the sky above you.
Nature is coming to Detroit now because so many houses have disappeared. We have pheasants and all sorts of small formerly woodland animals. Deer stalk suburban yards. Rabbits are an epidemic. And where I live we have black squirrels.
Oh, yes, even in the city there are moments. I saw one of our high-rise peregrine falcons go into a dive for food. It's like watching a large bullet travel.
And one morning several years ago. at one of our parks, I saw a pair of fawns while further down the trail, a mama duck and 16 babies crossed in front of me.
And of course, there have been rainbows.
I love the black squirrels. I saw them in Toronto once. Here is Columbus, the squirrels are gray, but in my area, there are many with white patches, particularly on their ears and paws. Have you ever seen a Prevost's squirrel, from Indonesia? I saw one at our zoo, and boy, did I want one of those.
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