Spring Rain

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As the day fills up with busy-ness:

an elderly friend weeping on the phone,

needing a visit,

places to go,

things to pick up,

the hours ticking by,

may I be as the deer

nibbling grass in the meadow,

grateful for each mouthful 

after the scarcity of winter,

grateful for mobility and grace,

awareness of

the Miracle of Now,

and the glorious response 

of all growing things,

self included,

to the blessing of spring rain.

I know it is summer everywhere else, but summer has still not found us on Vancouver Island. We appear to be living in an endless spring. I am not complaining, given the terrible storms elsewhere, floods, wildfires, devastation. An endless spring is always preferable to unending winter:) Happy July 1st, eh?

Winter Creatures

Some photos from Jon and Zenny down in the Okanagan. This is the Summerland area, outside Penticton. It is quite pretty, a small community along the lake. Look closely - see the small deer's head through the branches? She's lying down and not at all bothered by two humans crunching through the snow.

She is harder to see in this shot, partially covered by branches. Now she's standing and looking. So pretty.

A frozen vista.

I'm not sure if these are wild horses, or why they are wandering around loose.

Immediately, I start wanting to send bales of hay and some oats!

However, I've never seen wild horses this well-fed,

and certainly never this friendly! She's right

at the back of the car. Likely looking for a snack.

I hope they had apples - she hopes so too!

The herd awaits. I hope they are following a trail back to their barn. Last winter

a herd of horses were discovered in southern B.C. trapped in a snowy

area where they could not make their way out. They were starving. People from all over

went to the area and dug them a trench so they could travel out. Then they were taken to rescue places, fed and cared for and, ultimately, sent to adoptive homes.

Apparently the owner had turned them loose in an area where they had no food and no way to get out through the packed snow. Grrr.

However, as far as I know, no animals were injured during this photo shoot :)

Zenny, looking very cold. Okanagan winters are freezing.

I remember.

Jon, off trekking.

HARMONY

Beautiful morning:

birdsong

clouds like

herds of white horses

grazing the sky

a deer

taking startled flight

across the meadow

sleepy dogs

snoozing

on the porch-step

of morning

a horse's

deep brown-eyed calm

to greet me,

whuffing for her

breakfast oats

teapot steaming

and nothing to do

this long glorious day

but be with

the animals

They know how

to live in balance,

in the Now;

our soul's

replenishment

is to let them

show us

how.

The Creatures of the Woods

photo from seraknee.com

(written in winter)

Somewhere on a mountainside,

a mother bear stirs in her sleep

in her winter cave,

faintly beginning to dream

of springtime berries.

In mountain streams,

fish slowly circle, waiting

until spring

when they'll be eaten

by the bear.

And among the bare brown branches

and broken twigs of winter,

deer move

as elusively as shadows,

their mouths hungry

for the taste

of fresh green leaves.

Below

is all man's hubbub

and commotion,

a muted roar,

as he noisily goes about

the business of getting

his daily food

called Getting More.

I sit as silent as a stone

and long for places

deep within

the forest's heart

where there is

no sound

save wind in treetops

and the soft, padding footsteps

of the creatures

of the woods.