The Miracle of the Dragonfly

                 The Dragon-fly                   ~ A poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

Today I saw the dragon-fly

Come from the wells where he did lie.

An inner impulse rent the veil

Of his old husk: from head to tail

Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.

He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;

Thro’ crofts and pastures wet with dew

A living flash of light he flew.

The Miracle of the Bumble Bee

"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway." 

~ Mary Kay Ash

"A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any slower." 

~ Kin Hubbard

"To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few."

~ Emily Dickinson



Lakeside Living - Art in Nature

"Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain."

~ Henry David Thoreau

The waves battered the shoreline Saturday as the day spun through patterns of snow and rain and everything in between.  When the sunshine arrived early Sunday morning, I walked along the shore in search of the usual offerings of litter and found objects that arrive after a day of whitecaps. 

Along with bait containers, bobbins, tennis balls, soda cans and beer bottles, I found the shoreline shrubs in a sheath of ice.  The only evidence on this peaceful morning, of the battering they endured the day before.

 

Lakeside Living - A Storm Rolls In

"I was a complete tomboy. I loved wandering out in storms or walking on the beaches in the dark. It was a very free upbringing, and I'm grateful to my parents for that."

~ Amanda Burton

I was summoned from sleep Saturday morning by the sound of ice pellets tapping against my window.  I cracked an eye to the grey dawn and burrowed further beneath the blankets.  Some time later, the sound of the rising wind drew me from my bed.  I stood by the window and watched a squall work its way up the lake.

Our lakefront cottage provides front row seats for every system that settles in from the northwest -- and most of them do.  We watch fog creep up the lake or burn away under the heat of the morning sun.  We watch storm clouds roll and churn and tumble up the lake.  And sometimes, as it happened on Saturday, a squall arrives like a curtain drawing its way across the lake.

I am captivated by the way that nature can breathe life into a day with a breeze, that rises to a wind, that manifests into a storm and then dissolves back into a clear day.  A photograph may capture the mood, but never the energy..

I wish that I could find words to describe the miracle of nature.  Instead, I can explain only by saying that I feel closest to God when I am in the temple He created...rather than rejoicing in one we created for Him.  

Winter Storm Warning & A Squirrel

Well, the buses have been cancelled today. There's not a single snowflake in sight, but they are predicting 30 - 40 centimetres of snow. That's 15 - 20 inches of snow! They say it will come mixed with freezing rain. It's already in Toronto (4 hours west of here). I wonder if my brother's flight home from Cuba will make it in or if he and his family will be forced to layover somehwere. If so, I hope he his layover is in Cuba and not Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

I checked on his house this week and he doesn't have water. Now he didn't mention that he was going to shut off his water but I sure hope it didn't freeze. What a terrible homecoming present that would be.

We have been feeding birds this winter and have lots of fun watching their antics. It's attracting squirrels too. I know some people get bent out of shape when squirrels dip into their birdseed supply but I don't mind. They're cute (at a distance) and funny, funny, funny to watch. They are persistent and playful and ingenious.

We watched this little guy pick up seeds from the ground below the bird feeder. He sat pretty so we could take his picture through the window. I wonder what he's going to do today when the snow starts to fall. Will he tunnel into a snowbank and then tunnel back out tomorrow morning all the time wondering why it's taking twice as long to get out? Will he find a hole in a tree and sit in his little den eating his stockpile of nuts until the storm passes? Maybe he'll run around trying to catch snowflakes with his tiny little hands or on the tip of his little squirrly tongue. Probably not that.

Well, I had better get started. The drive to work will be fine but I am predicting an early end to my day.

Winterlude starts today. I'm going to try and find out if the ice sculpting contest begins today or tomorrow. I'd like to go downtown on day two of the contest and watch them finish up their works of art. I'll take some photos and post them here.

A Little Blue Friend

A beautiful little blue bird formally known as the Blue Jay. At my Granny & Grandpa’s house in front of their kitchen window they have a bird feeder and a basket with bones and a bit of left over meat in it. I’m not quite sure about a left over meat eating and bone chewing bird though. Didn’t know they existed. Mom brought a bag of birdseed home from town the other day and we filled up the bird feeder hoping that we would have some visitors. Every time a bird comes to the feeder, we try to find its picture in Grandpa’s Northern Bird book. So far we have seen the Common Redpoll (only two), Evening Grosbeaks (lots), Chickadees, one Cardinal and plenty of Blue Jays. Oh yeah, and a squirrel.

During the winter while they are in Florida we watch their house for them and since Mom bought the seed, they’ve got visitors at their bird feeder and still no birds at their bone and meat basket. Right now I am looking at it and there is a pile of snow in their basket while there are Blue Jays in the bird feeder.

From about 12:00am. - 12:30am. I was watching a group of Blue Jays while taking pictures and there were about 8 of them but they wouldn’t come to the feeder while I was standing in the kitchen except one of them decided that it didn’t matter he was getting too hungry to wait so he flew over and I managed to get some pictures. Here’s my favourite picture.

I hope you like it too and I'll try to get pictures of the other birds.
Wordpecker jr.

Snow and more snow

It has snowed every day since last Thursday. Thursday morning we woke up to a huge dumping of snow. Most of the school buses in the nearby rural municipalities were cancelled. It was my daughter's birthday and she was hoping for a snow day, but her bus came and she went to school to celebrate with her friends. It snowed all day. It was fun and pretty and helped me get into the spirit of the approaching holidays.

It continued to snow through Friday. Very few people dropped into the coffee shop on Friday. Too cold and too much snow to make the short trip from their car to our door, I guess. Saturday was the Santa Clause parade in a nearby town. I took my daughter and two of her friends to the parade and it started to snow as the parade passed us by. It was after dark and the total experience was lovely. Sunday it snowed some more, then Monday too, and Tuesday night. The plows can't keep up.

This morning the roads were freakin' treacherous. The snow had been packed down by traffic to form a very slick, icy white shell on the road. I could feel my car moving left and right on its own which always makes me uncomfortable. I hate that feeling! I hate feeling as though, at any second, the car can move a foot or two to the side on its own. The sun was kind enough to help melt away some of that ice, but the roads are still pretty slippery. You would never know that by watching most of the drivers on the road...unless of course you're watching me crawl by.

Autumn Leaves

Diana Krall has this great song - Autumn Leaves. It's nice. Today reminds me of that song. I play it over and over in my head. It's cool, there are still leaves on the trees and plenty on the ground. When it is cool like this, the air seems cleaner somehow.

Wednesday was elections here in Ontario. We re-elected a party that lied, broke promises and gave millions of dollars away in "grants" to their cronies. How bad is it when that was our best option?

This election also included a referendum question about the voting process. We voted against electoral reform. It costs less, it means fewer seats and it means that government won't be divided or side-tracked by the voices of the few just because their representative showed up for work. Can you tell I support the decision.

Gotta go. I'm walking today with my girlfriend. Can hardly wait to hit the pavement.

Talk soon!

A Fall Day Unwrapped

There's something about this time of year. The air seems cleaner and the sounds more crisp. Views become vistas painted with the colours of autumn. I love the Fall! When it arrives, it's warm and sunny and dry and spectacular.

I spent a weekend at our cabin on the lake a few weeks ago. I woke early to stoke the fire and drive away the dampness that had settled in overnight. I cracked open the curtains and scanned the shoreline to see if I had any visitors. A blue heron was standing watch at his post in the marshes, grand and still among the bullrushes. He is somewhat of a permanent fixture here in my little slice of heaven. I expect him to be here when I come. He's my unknowing companion in the dawn. I could hear a loon though I could not see him behind the morning's mist; it sounded to me as if he was closer to the head of the lake. I remember feeling relieved to hear the distant call because his visits to our shore generally mean that we can expect to see rain.

I wrapped myself in a comforter, quietly opened the sliding door and took a seat on the deck to listen and watch and smell the day arriving. The mist was thick that day. It changed the way the morning sounded. The usual songs of birds and boats and late-season cottagers were smothered by the mantle of fog. I closed my eyes against the morning and listened to the water lapping at the shore just a few feet away. Silently I gave thanks for having this sacred place. It offers me serenity I have yet to find anywhere else.

The sun rose to my left and tugged at the mist with invisible fingers as though unwrapping an especially delicate gift. As the morning eased itself into the lake, the mist receded and unveiled its view to me. The trees on the shore made me think of artist's paintbrushes, waiting to meet the canvas with fiery strokes of red and yellow.



I snuggled deeper into my polyester cocoon and snapped pictures of the day awakening. I'm not sure why I thought I could capture that day with a camera. There are things in this world that must be experienced to be appreciated - a hug, friendship, a great book, daybreak.

As the last few tendrils of mist rose from the lake, I watched the blue heron pluck his breakfast from the yielding waters. In one swift and graceful moment, he broadened his wings and hoisted himself above the bullrushes. I stood and unfurled myself as my companion disappeared behind the treeline. Inhaling deeply, I caught the faint and airy scent of wood smoke as it fell to me from the chimney above.

I listened to hear the stirrings of children inside the cabin. Muffled giggles and shuffling footsteps told me that my day was about to intersect with theirs. I pulled my comforter across my chest like a too-big cape and gave silent thanks for another spectacular day in my own piece of heaven.