Urban Morning Walk

As I went to the mailbox to pick-up the mail from the day before, I felt compelled to dress a little warmer and go for a walk around the neighborhood. I’d been staying indoors quite a bit, and was beginning to feel slight indications that cabin fever was weighing down on me. After getting the bottle of vitamin D3 out of the cabinet and swallowing a couple of pills down, I got dressed and went for a walk. I thought I was just going for a quick walk and quickly come back home to start working on my never ending to do list, but I ended up going on a longer expedition.

As I was passing underneath a tree I noticed a tiny nest and decided

that on my way back I would take a picture of it. I ended up taking lots of
pictures, because there were so many interesting things to see and explore. You see, when we truly pay attention there are many wonderful things just around us. Little birds were jumping from tree to tree with their little morning chirps. Since it’s Winter, their songs are soft and not the full operettas they sing during the Spring and Summer. A raven followed me for a while from rooftop to rooftop letting out loud kraas. I wasn’t sure if he was laughing at me or making sure I knew he was the king of the roofs. A mourning dove let go of a soft coo from the top of a chimney. Birds are so cute!

A bush dressed in dry winter berries greeted me beside the sidewalk. Small pine cones were quietly sleeping the winter away at the end of their tree branches. An empty playground stood lifeless in a neighborhood park and a man played with his dog on the wet grass. There’s an evergreen in that park that its perfume always takes me back to many years ago walking in the pinewood forests of Portugal. A hawk threatened by my proximity flew away and landed on top of a satellite dish. I went after it for a picture. :)  

It had rained. The air was cool and crisp. The ground was wet and the sun shyly shone behind the passing clouds. 

The mountains in the distance were mysteriously hidden in a thick envelope of clouds. What a beautiful morning!

 

Coming back home, I made sure to stop by the tree with the tiny nest. A closer look revealed that there were actually three tiny nests. Empty humming bird nests that reminded me of busy times past. A few steps further though, a robin let go of a funny laughter, telling me that this quietness and stillness of winter will soon give way to the busyness of Spring. I better enjoy Winter as much as I can!

 "How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts!"

Psalm 92:5