Wetland vegetation at Ohio Bird Sanctuary. Add in knowledge of the beaver dam and you have a positively swoon worthy environment.
A sunny reservoir where we swam and soaked up the rays this summer and early fall, but also...
witnessed White-rumped Sandpipers co-mingling with a flock of Killdeer. Look at those last few sentences...astonishing! Wondrous! Jim McCormac's book, Birds of Ohio, is such a delightful reference for tidbits of natural history like this. Spending time during migration at big bodies of water offers a big sky and a big beach...both offering views of nonhuman (& human) beings living their lives.
The beauty of prairie eliciting smiles, always. I'm glad to scroll my camera gallery and see smiles on our faces. Kamama Praire, Ohio:
A shelter made from grass seeds and silk. Who might live here? How exquisite.
Wavy-lined Emerald. That green! How we love that green. Host plants: aster, coneflower, goldenrod, ragweed and more. Resting on oak.
Pennsylvania Leatherwings on Goldenrod. There were HUNDREDS. How important must these plants be to them?
We adore people working so hard to support other lives. This prairie patch is not only gorgeous, but was hopping with bumble bees in a place without many other wildflowers. The purple martins flew overhead in great numbers thanks to a carefully cared for nesting system provided for them. Biking to get here made it even better. Human powered.
Reminders of who lived before. Past, present and future are always comingled. We find relentless learning and observation to be the way of understanding and forward thinking & motion.
This Figwort (always a favorite!) grows in a low spot roadside. Other plants tell the story of a fairly intact native plant community; one that is exciting and that should be respected and encouraged. The for sale sign and access driveway tell the tale of another way. Which will it be? At this point in time, humans get to decide. And to decide well, we must know. We must observe. We must learn. We must appreciate lives other than our own.
Choosing co-habitation with nonhuman life at our house, we live in a mixture of inside and outside, frequently with open windows and open doors. How else can we hear the whole world? Camping is a natural extension of our everyday life, but simpler. This time is precious to us; in fact it's probably quite likely essential given how we feel while doing so and for a time afterward.
The hikes in big, big, big open spaces are different than much of our homeland, but they renew us and continue to become more crucial for renewal.
Red Velvet Ant (actually a wasp!) in all her magnificence.
Lichens making soil.
Cactus seeds preparing to make more cacti.
Hope in people. Hope in non-profits. How grateful we are for you!
One moment I don't have a picture for, but that remains in the gallery of my mind is the unseen, but yipping coyote. I sat in my chair in Morrow County, OH watching the sky for diurnal migrating raptors and monarchs (with much success) and all of a sudden, about 20' away near a huge brush pile (hidden by tall native plants) came one series of yips. Only one series, but unmistakable. The smile spread huge on my face then and appears even now as I write. Steve and I share space with so many lives, with as much of the real world as can live here and I still cannot believe how many said yes to our invitation. Coyotes don't live long around here due to misinformed people, but she or he was there, right near me. I know they knew I was there and what they said I do not know. Maybe just a friendly hello because they know how very much they mean to me.
What a gift to pay attention....and to feel LOVE.
Soundtracks:
Greta Van Fleet: Age of Man
Hozier: Take Me to Church
Vince Staples: Cotton
Bebe Stockwell & Wesley Schultz: Ant Farm
Kevin Morby: Badlands
Videos to wow you:
Our YouTube Channel:
