Thursday, or Thereabouts - September 13, 2018

Yesterday, I was feeling a tad overwhelmed by the news cycle, both local and global. I was engulfed by a hurricane of thoughts, none of them any good. So I punched the ejection seat button. I came down in the middle of nature - the Nokiidaa Trail. I strolled along that part of the trail that wends its way south along the East Holland River, past Fairy Lake in Newmarket.

Nokiidaa is an Ojibwa word meaning, "walking together." Camera in hand, I strolled along with my intimate friends, heart, mind, soul, and body.  I listened, I watched, I took long and deep breaths.

Mallard Ducks

blue heron

Teasel

Bull Thistle

Red-legged Grasshopper

Teasel

Himalayan balsam Impatiens grandulifera (aka policeman's helmet)

Orange Jewelweed

Orange Jewelweed

Sow Thistle

Refreshed, relaxed and re-centred, I returned home. Along the street where I live, these beauties displayed what my heart, mind, and soul had just rediscovered.

Red Maple

"The leaves are about to show us how lovely it is to let go." 

(anonymous)

©2018 April Hoeller

A to Z Challenge - O is for Owl & Others

Barred Owl

...and Other birds that grace the land outside my door.

Some, like the owl, are large...

Cooper's Hawk

Pileated Woodpecker

Wild Turkey

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

Ring-necked Pheasant

Others are small but more frequent visitors...

White-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

Indigo Bunting

Slate-coloured Junco

Northern Cardinal - Female

Northern Cardinal, Male

Hairy Woodpecker

Baltimore Orioles

Goldfinches 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male)

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

And the omnipresent, rain or shine, snow or sleet - Fred and Ethel the mourning doves:

Mourning Doves

"And what matters most is not whether we hide or fly or even where our journey takes us -- but what guides us home and where we come to land."

(closing monologue from Call the Midwife Season 7, Episode 5)

©2018 April Hoeller