Look Around You

We move our feet to propel ourselves from here to there.  We peddle our bicycles to travel between places.  We ride in our vehicles and keep our eyes on the road so we can get to our destinations safely (if we are driving, of course).  

I am certainly all for getting oneself from one place to another efficiently and safely.  But, I think we also need to give ourselves and opportunities to move around while LOOKING around.

Tammy and I have been a bit more purposeful in seeking out opportunities to walk and observe the world around us this Fall.  Sometimes the camera goes with us, sometimes it doesn't.  On one walk a few weeks ago, I remembered to look up and I saw the sunshine playing off of the oak leaves still holding on to the branches over our heads.

While the picture fails to capture the slight movement and the changing light as the leaves filtered the sunshine in different ways, it is enough to remind us of some of what our senses were picking up as we looked at things from a new angle.

Or maybe we can look at things we don't usually give a second glance to.  Once you get to November and December in Iowa, the color green is featured ...um... less, that it is during the months just prior.  But, there it was.  A stone that isn't rolling.  So, of course, there was some moss.

Or perhaps this is the stone they DID leave unturned?  Whichever saying you want to reference is fine with me.  There was still green on this rock.  And we might have completely missed it if we were walking there in June, or September.  But, November?  It was almost like a neon sign!

The two of us are rapt when it comes to watching raptors.  I am not certain when we both recognized that the other was just as happy to watch a Red-Tail Hawk soaring on a thermal as the other one was.  It doesn't really matter when or why we recognized that fact.  What matters is the fact that we DID.

And now, we stop, when we are able, and watch these birds fly by - tickling the underside of a bright blue sky.

A puddle in the gravel driveway is something to notice and then avoid - especially if you have the wrong footwear for mud puddle stomping.  But, if it is twilight and you are waiting for your partner to join you.  And... you have a camera in your hand at that moment for whatever strange reason...

You can record the reflection of the Mighty Oak branches that can be seen there.  Whatever possessed me to take this picture?  It doesn't matter.  What matters is that I was observing the world around me and taking no small amount of delight in little things that are uncommon only because we ignore them so much of the time.

Amish Cockscomb are a strange sort of flower - almost looking a little like the things you would see on a coral reef.  And, when the sun hits them just right and you give yourself a moment to observe them up-close and personal, you have an interesting spectacle that is unlike ...  Well, unlike most anything other than coral?

Sometimes, you actually miss the moment.  In this case, I meant to go view these flowers a few mornings prior to the one where I actually did go look at them.  You see, if I had done that, I would have seen them in their full glory BEFORE the first frost scarred them.  Yet, I did not let that stop me from seeing them at all, for that would have been a bigger loss.

And then there are places on the farm that are home to the mundane and oft overlooked.  A t-post can be found in many locations, both in use and in "storage."  And, there are certainly various dead branches with fungi here and there, because that is part of what happens in wild places.  They're just part of the background noise as we go about our daily work at the Genuine Faux Farm.  

One day, I stopped to look more closely and decided there were interesting textures and colors to be observed here.  Suddenly, the mundane became interesting.  Interesting enough that the next time I had the camera out, I snapped a couple of photos just to see if I could record it - and maybe share it with you.

Have a great day, and take a moment to stop, look, listen, smell and touch.  Add a little awe and wonder to this rotation of the Earth.