This Morning

My friend Pam gave me a book of Mary Oliver poetry called Devotions, and now that I’m done with Regina’s book, I’ve started reading one of Mary’s every morning.

The poem today made an impact:

This Morning

This morning the redbirds’ eggs
have hatched and already the chicks
are chirping for food. They don’t
know where it’s coming from, they
just keep shouting, “More! More!”
As to anything else, they haven’t
had a single thought. Their eyes
haven’t yet opened, they know nothing
about the sky that’s waiting. Or
the thousands, the millions of trees.
They don’t even know they have wings.

And just like that, like a simple
neighborhood event, a miracle is
taking place.

As I wrote in my journal, I kept going back to the line:

They don’t even know they have wings.

I feel there is a personal meaning for me in that line. Where are the wings I don’t know I have?

Admittedly, I was nervous about January coming. I felt that it meant getting into the fray again.

But Thursday was a peaceful day. There were things to figure out, and I did. I stayed calm, enjoyed everything I did, used my resources, asked questions, asked for help. Yes, all the things I reminded my student to do over the years.

I woke today feeling great. Ready. Strong. My eyes were open. I can allow miracles.

And on the way to an appointment, an eagle flew over Summerlin Road right in front of me, and on into Lakes Park, prey hanging from his talons. It is the second eagle I’ve seen in a month. It reminds me that Spirit is with me always. This morning. This afternoon. While I take out the garbage. While I cook dinner. While I sleep.

A new year is upon us. We all have wings. May they lift us high over the next 12 months.

Fleeting

 This morning on my way to get a warm-up on my coffee, I noticed the sky.

I took my coffee and granola bar out to the lanai, and sat with the sunrise. It was remarkable. I felt calm and brave. An osprey came and sat on the porch next door, keeping me company.

Then the osprey and the brilliant sky were gone. Another reminder on how fleeting beauty and companionship can be. Best to recognize it when it is here. My total time outside probably wasn’t much more than 5 minutes. This is what was left:

Heart Rising

 Heart rising

Made up my mind today I would not be sad in the darkness

Colored this picture with many beautiful emblems

The ocean. The coral reef.

The heart at the center

The sun and the sky and the birds

Despite the downer the last several weeks have been

I feel my heart rising

I feel brighter days are coming

I’m ready

And need to be patient

Sunday Seeking Peace

It’s a muggy morning with zero breeze. I had vowed to get out and walk, to connect with Mother Nature, and wasn’t going to let the weather stop me.

I’m glad I kept my vow.  I walked the bridge area to the woods. The Ibis were roosting and it was obviously mating season, as there were many bright displays.

I stopped at a bench that was calling to me. I was thinking a lot about lyrics to a song from yesterday: “Peace will come.” I meditated for a short time on the bench on those words, then took this picture:

Don’t you just love cloud reflections?

I walked into the wooded area and had this thought: why am I saying peace will come? Peace is now.

Then I saw this plaque next to a bench, something I had not seen before:

I smiled at myself. What else do I need? I have the present moment. I walked, touching all the palm fronds along the path, reaching for waxy leaves and feathery vines. A cache of butterflies fluttered over my head. I was sweaty and mosquito-bitten when I returned to my car, but no matter.  I had kept my promise and was reminded once more that being one with nature is all it’s cracked up to be!

Owl

Today is the New Moon, a time each month I pull a medicine card to get a preview of what is coming. This time I pulled Owl, which stands for deception. When I read through the book* which gives many interpretations, I always look for the one that seems to make the most sense. Today it was the final paragraph I am going to note here. It goes well with some things I’ve been experiencing, and I want to keep this in my awareness.

If you pulled the Owl card, you are being asked to use your powers of keen, silent observation to intuit some life situation. Owl is befriending you and aiding you in seeing the total truth. Owl can bring you messages in the night through dreams or meditation. Pay attention to the signals and omens. The truth always brings further enlightenment.

* Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals by Jamie Sams & David Carson, 1988.

Ringing

Today’s inspiration comes from chapter 2 of Jean Shinoda Bolen’s book Close to the Bone. The chapter title is “The Ground Gives Way Under Us.” Then I read Nick Flynn’s poem “Marathon,” and I was struck by these words and decided they deserved a spine poem, simply to process what I have been reading and thinking.

…until this cloud is pulled back from the sky, until the ringing is pulled back from the bell…

until the gate opened signaling 

this new reality, I was a

cloud of uncertainty. It

is worth noting I had recurring doubts

pulled from I-don’t-know-where, coming

back to a rhythm of underlying worry

from fear of loss and 

the loss of fearlessness. The

sky is where I’d look and breathe

until I could see with clarity

the constant shifts, and hear the

ringing of the birds voices, and know this

is joy and a reminder to me,

pulled from inner knowing

back to a place of freedom

from loss and fear,

the yet unknown possibilities in reach, the

bell of joy here in my heart.

A Little Joy

I didn’t have an idea for writing this morning. Now it’s after 5 pm, and I know I have got to do this now before I grow any more tired.

Here are a few joyful moments from today:

My intensive reader didn’t do well on a small assessment, but when I looked deeper I had an epiphany about what I need to teach them to do.

I saw a Swallowtail Kite sailing over our school when I was on one of the outdoor walkways.

Last week I shared a poem written by one of my students. Today I gave her a journal and some colorful pens so she can keep writing. Then she emailed and thanked me, and ask that I send her some prompts. I found a long list for middle schoolers for her, and emailed it back.

I have my first nearly ready presentation in Global Perspectives. These 2 girls have worked very hard on their project related to asylum seekers, and will be presenting it as an interview. I watched them practice today, and was impressed. They took my feedback and got right back to work. 

We have been having trouble getting a portable oxygen unit for Jim. He has severe COPD, and the doctor put the order in. But unlike other prescriptions, the people providing the oxygen make the final decision on whether you get it or not. (Totally insane.) The pulmonologist’s assistant got involved, and we may be able to secure something more workable than we have now. It’s not ideal, but it will have to do. I am grateful to those who have tried to help us. Carting those metal tanks up and down the stairs and in and out of the car is an ongoing safety issue.

I was able to enjoy my 6th grade Global Perspectives students. I let myself relax with them, and they played Quizlet Live. They had fun, and I witnessed them learning and teaching each other. I vowed to have more classes like this one.

I am grateful for a four day weekend! 🧡🩵💚🩷

Sharing a couple of Swallowtail pics my friend Debbie took in her neighborhood.

Brilliant Blue (a haibun)

 This morning I clearly remembered seeing a Blue Jay in my dream.  It looked like this:

I was so delighted to see it! I did register, however, that it didn’t look like most Jays I know…the typical Blue Jay or even the Florida Scrub Jay. They both have a bit more black and/or white. I knew in my dream the bird looked different. It also was fairly large. The feeling I had seeing this bird was pure joy.

The photo above is Unicolor Jay. It lives in Mexico and other parts of Central America. I have never heard of it, nor did I know it existed. Yet, there it was making its presence known in my dream.

I looked up what having a Blue Jay in a dream means, and was glad to see it was positive. I will end this with a haiku I wrote in honor of this small experience that looms large inside me today.

Feathers brilliant blue

Bringing me perseverance 

Peace and harmony

Prayer Trail

 This morning I decided it was time to make a trip to Six Mile Cypress Slough. I honestly cannot recall the last time I was there. I had an idea to take a small journal with me and stop along the walk and write short prayers. But once I got there, I decided I didn’t want to carry the notebook, so I decided to use voice memo on my phone. Each stop I recorded something and took a photo. Very often it was the photo I wanted to take that motivated the prayer. Other times, it was the location.

I didn’t get there as early as I usually do, and the place was already busy with many bird-watchers and 0photographers. Still, I managed to have some quiet moments to reflect and record.

Enjoy my little prayer trail, each word as I recorded it.

Morning at the slough.

I just took a picture of the sun reflecting on the water,

The trees are reflecting

It’s right at the entryway

Absolutely beautiful.

My prayer here is that I may mirror love in the world.

I’m at the lake now…tall grasses all around here, very tall.

I can’t even say I remember the grasses being so tall here.

The dry season hasn’t been all that dry, so I think that’s why.

There’s a cormorant, but I don’t see a lot else.

The breeze is coming at me…now it’s a wind.

I just feel like everything is wide open.

For a while it felt like things were closing in on me, but they’re not.

I’m as wide open as this lake, a breeze blowing across me. 

That’s prayer wind.

Walking on the boardwalk

I’m just realizing

I really needed this.

Period.

Everything feels so green.

Well, it is green…

Anyway, absolutely gorgeous morning,

Cool, humid, and wonderful.

Criss-cross

The way this tree looked when I came around the bend

Criss-crossing and wrapping around things and bumping into things

It’s exactly how I’ve been feeling lately.

Very representative!

Maybe I don’t always feel wide open and green!

Looking up.

Looking for God.

Reaching for God.

What is the slough without the sounds?

I liked the call this bird was making and how off in the distance, 

another bird was answering.

That is a certain kind of prayer.

Alone.

I arrived at the Pop Ash Pond, and I get be here by myself,

Without a bunch of bird-watchers and photographers.

Feels nice to breathe and be alone here.

Breathing in contemplation with nature is the best kind of prayer.

Spiral

 A lone white pelican

visited our lake yesterday

catching the attention of 

snowbirds gathered around

the water, watching it dip

for fish, its orange beak

glinting in the sun

and I considered this a 

good sign as I’ve

always thought of these

birds as angels because

of the way they spread

their wings and spiral

around and around.

Breaking Inaction

 I have been a lazy writer for too long. 

I’ve also been lazy about getting out of the house and walking in nature. 

I am well aware only I can take action against my inaction.

So I’m starting here. I walked around the lake yesterday at Lakes Park on a cool, blue sky morning. I was there quite early, but came upon plenty of walkers and families in the playground. Even more so was the abundance of birds. Roosting birds, flying birds, feeding birds…even a Coopers Hawk who managed to avoid my camera lens.

Some were easy to photograph, however. Anhingas are most often seen drying their wings. But this dude was just hanging out on a rock by the boardwalk

Near the boat rentals, I found a collection of Brown Pelicans, some hanging around, some gulping up fish.

And then I came upon the granddaddy of all Wood Storks. This guy was a loner, and he was HUGE. 

That was it. I felt part of the community of nature once again, and I broke my over five month silence on this blog. One step at a time, right? That’s what it takes. 

“presiding over all those miracles”

Winding backwards on a morning walk at my local beach, I am thinking of this Billy Collins poem:

 

Dogma

I might be an atheist

were it not

for all the tall angels

and the pudgy cherubs

in the silvery clouds

presiding over all those miracles.

While driving, I saw ice rainbows in the clouds....

Tall angels in the form of osprey....

Pudgy cherubs in sunrise clouds…

Pudgy cherubs in the silvery cloud reflections…

 So many dragonflies...this one posed for me, then flew on...

I find my broken tree, drop my shell in, and speak out loud that God and I will always preside 

over these miracles together.

The Return

 The day I’ve waited for finally came today. I was able to return to Bunche Beach in the early morning hour.

I found myself breathing deeper than I have in a while. I couldn’t take enough pictures! So delighted to be among the sand and gently lapping waves and shorebirds skittering the edges, the newly lit Sanibel Island Lighthouse blinking from across the bay. Sunlight streaked the sky as I made my way down to the point, the place I always go, seashell in hand, to my prayer tree. I had no idea if it would be there. 

It was! Battered quite a bit, but now with an even bigger hole to slip my prayer shell.

It was a homecoming.

On the way back I found a place where someone had drawn a circle. I drew a heart within it to represent my return…with love. 

Delight Song of Six Mile Cypress Slough

 A return to the slough with this mentor poem in mind.  Delight Song of the Tsoai-Talee

 

I am where you enter the boardwalk to magic

I am the Pond Cypress swamp who greets you

 

 

I am the trees and sky

 

 

 

 

I am the white fungus that dots the trees like punctuation

 

I am the sunlight setting the alligator flag aglow

 

 

I am the wide and gentle lake, perfect for morning meditations

 

 

I am sunlight on the water

I am the tree that took two directions

I am the tree that couldn't hang on

I am the heart, the butterfly, the flower

 

 

I am deep blues and bright greens

 

 

I am a bit of autumn red surprise

I am sun-filtered fern, plentiful and free

I am Cypress needles hanging on, and Cypress trees standing straight and tall.

I am Grandfather Cypress who lost my crown in the hurricane.

I am stillness and reflection as far as the eye can see

I am the raccoon, the Limpkin, the Night Heron, the Pileated Woodpecker who refused to be photographed

I am November in the Slough after the mighty winds that blew

I am the Red-Shouldered Hawk calling as if reciting the poem

You see, I am alive, I am alive

I stand in good relation to the earth

I stand in good relation to the gods

I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful...

You see, I am alive, I am alive

Italicized lines from the mentor poem posted at top