Looking For Calm

When you go into a forest anything can happen.”

-David Farr

I am up early this morning, sitting outside with my sweet Deja. I am hearing the birds differently than I did just yesterday. I had the good fortune of going on a sunrise hike and bird watch/listen yesterday out in Great Falls, Maryland with Margaret Rietano, creator of The Elements, and several other fabulous people who I had not been acquainted with before yesterday. I have never been bird watching. Sure I watch birds and love to listen to the cacophony of sounds they make early in the morning. This was different, we were really paying attention and learning to listen for distinct sounds and calls (still trying to get my bird verbiage correct.) It turns out we identified 29 different species of birds while out on our hike thanks to our resident expert, Betsy Lovejoy. Wow! It took me a good half hour to figure out my binoculars that I borrowed from my neighbor: Full discloser, I had a lot of tree branches in my view finder (is that what it is called?) initially. But as the morning wore on, I was seeing and hearing differently. And Liz in our group, who along with her husband seemed to have a good deal of knowledge about birds, said she is perfectly happy just listening for the birds and it matters little whether she sees them. I loved so many things about yesterday… the fog before the sunrise, the swiftly moving current along the Potomac, the crisp air, the cadence of our footsteps as we walked, the conversation among people some of whom were well acquainted and others who were not, the laughter, the smiles, the turtles sunning, the Herons soaring, making new friends, watching 2 Canadian geese with their goslings, sharing stories, listening to the sounds of rushing water, noticing the quiet, new learning, feeling the peace and incredible beauty and wonder of God’s creation. The woods have incredible power and in a world where we are living and moving so fast and furiously, taking time to get out in the woods is a gift. Yesterday was a gift for which I am grateful! #getoutside #birdlife #learnsomethingnew #stretchyourself #theelementsdc #greatfalls #exquisitebeauty #deeplistening #birdcalls #sweetness #healthyliving