I continue on from my previous blog to watch the skunk cabbage transform in the Northeast. It completely changes and opens up it’s thick, protective rubbery skin to release beautiful green leaves. It’s not smelling like skunk yet, so I am awaiting that event with tempered enthusiasm.
My walk today found me sitting and meditating on a log. Listening really. It had been an unsettling day for no reason, other than being cooped up at home and not knowing the future. At times like this I turn to the woods and I am embraced and rewarded with their tidings of hope. Here I feel most whole, most at home, most at peace, and the most insightful. I can see here, and I feel seen by the trees that I’m hugging and the birds I am hearing, the trickling water, the shimmer of light, the colors, dead brown and white of light, green of vibrant new growth. Here I am most grateful.
A song came bubbling into my consciousness…
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
It’s a song from Tommy. Let me say this first. I have never seen Tommy, I do not have the soundtrack, and I have no idea how the tune flew into my mind, but it reflected my heart to these woods.
So I sat. And I heard wood peckers, wind in the trees, trickling brooks, rustling of leaves, squirrels chattering, even a little chipmunk dashing. And then as I continued on walking, and as I was speaking into my voice recorder to remember the moment, I heard (and recorded!!) a couple of loud “hoo hoo hooooooo’s.” Looking up I saw two huge Harry Potter-looking owls high in the trees. They were over a foot tall and I watched as first one, then the other flew, their wings flung out in huge sails as they drifted to differing branches.
Dumbfounded and in awe I knew I was experiencing another charmed-life moment of magic. I was too discombobulated to get good photos but I snapped this one that is like a pinch to my arm to prove it was real.
Googling when I return home I discover that they were Barred Owls, their distinct hooting call a dead giveaway. It is a rare event to see them (let alone get a voice recording of them), a gift that reminds me to hang on and get lost in this beautiful world of yours, mine and ours.
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me See me, feel me, touch me, heal me
Listening to you I get the music Gazing at you I get the heat Following you I climb the mountain I get excitement at your feet
Right behind you I see the millions On you I see the glory From you I get opinions From you I get the story
Listening to you I get the music Gazing at you I get the heat Following you I climb the mountain I get excitement at your feet
-Feel Me by Pete Townshend
meanderest 