When we are singing to the God of Love,
Mirabai Starr
the God of Love is singing to the world.
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My Favorite Bird
Western Meadowlarks seek the wide open spaces of native grasslands and agricultural fields for spring and summer breeding and winter foraging. I find them along the weedy sides of roads, marsh edges, and mountain meadows on the eastern plains and along the foothills. They seem to share the marshes with the red-winged and yellow breasted blackbirds. Which make sense as they are in the blackbird family. Since their diet consists mostly of insects and seeds they really are almost everywhere. As you can tell in this image this one has dinner already. They were perched on fence post as I drove along Weld County Rd. 15. Their song is my favorite of the song birds. It just resonates with me. I was surprised to hear it sing even with the worm in it’s bill. Again, have a super day!
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Singing without worry
“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.”
Rumi -
You sing, I listen
Meadowlark, when you sing it’s as if
Mary Oliver, Meadowlark Sings and I Greet Him In Return
you lay your yellow breast upon mine and say
hello, hello, and are we not
of one family, in our delight of life?
You sing, I listen.
Both are necessary
if the world is to continue going around
night-heavy then light–laden, though not
everyone knows this or at least
not yet,
or, perhaps, has forgotten it
in the torn fields,
in the terrible debris of progress.We need rain. So far for the month of April we have .1 inch of rain. Dixon Reservoir is really low at Pineridge Natural Area. As I watch the sun rise four mule deer graze before me. And, the meadowlarks sing and I listen.
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A Quick Look at 2021
Thought I would mention the purchases I made this past year. One was the purchase of a nice pair of the Nikon Prostaff S3 8×42 binoculars. Just love them and I feel one the better purchases I made. I’m learning a lot about the birds in this area. Another was purchasing the Fujifilm XF 70-300mm lens. I have not owned a lens of this focal length for a long time. Loving it! So this year included several more bird photos than I normally would not have made. This image is one of my favoritest images of one of my favoritest songbirds, the Western Meadowlark, so I needed to post it again. And finally was the purchase of another Pelikan fountain pen the Marbled Petrol. I’m a sucker for fountain pens!
I discovered another natural area to explore called the McMurry Natural Area.
I have tried to post on a regular basis quality images and decent content. Sometimes I do well and other times I struggle but I put it out there. I’ve also continued to write haiku, even though I’ve slacked of the past few weeks. I also still venture to coffee shops to socialize, read and journal. Probably will do the same in 2022 also.
I am also extremely grateful for my family. I’ve watched wonderful growth in them as they mature into adults. They are growing up along with me. I am also grateful for the friends I have in my life. They have supported me when I needed to talk, work through my feelings and they have allowed me to do the same for them.
There is more. Maybe later. Have a great day and stay warm!
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Alleluia
Sixty-seven years, oh Lord, to look at the clouds,
Mary Oliver
the trees in deep, moist summer,
daisies and morning glories
opening every morning
their small, ecstatic faces—
Or maybe I should just say
how I wish I had a voice
like the meadowlark’s,
sweet, clear, and reliably
slurring all day long
from the fencepost, or the long grass
where it lives
in a tiny but adequate grass hut
beside the mullein and the everlasting,
the faint-pink roses
that have never been improved, but come to bud
then open like little soft sighs
under the meadowlark’s whistle, its breath-praise,
its thrill-song, its anthem, its thanks, its
alleluia. Alleluia, oh Lord. -
The Small Things
If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.
Rainer Maria Rilke