What a delightful challenge for this starting-to-seem-endless, cooped-up time. It comes from:
https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2020/06/27/lens-artists-photo-challenge-103-surprise/
I am especially blessed these days by my father’s powerful teaching and modeling. His most strongly held spiritual belief was that boredom was a sin, and an insult to Mother Nature. He taught us to always look for that big surprise. He believed we were constantly surrounded by miracles and could find one anywhere, anytime.
Nothing cancels out boredom better than a miracle.
Being trapped in my rooms for so long has been mostly OK because of this exact philosophy. But I have to admit, I almost get to the point of boredom sometimes. When I find myself feeling that, I know it’s time to get outside. Even if just in my country-like, suburban neighborhood. Rain or shine, day or night, peopled or not, the miracles abound.
Here are some recent Surprises!!!
First, water, early morning sunlight, and shadows…a great combination for surprising beauty.
Next, the bunnies are still around, which means the Coyotes, Owls and Hawks are probably well-fed elsewhere…for now.
Surprise! The baby Apple Tree has its first baby apples!
Next, very early sunlight sometimes messes with my mind. At first I thought these lovely plants had been attacked by some strange blight, only to discover on closer examination, was surprised to see it was the sun slipping through the cracks in the fence!
I love experimenting with things that close-up, are mysteries….but a step back reveals the origin of the surprise.
And this one surprised me because I didn’t notice until writing this post, the shadow, light and colors from the Hummingbird feeder look remarkably like a Hummingbird!!
And lastly, though I’m not sure it will actually work to post this, I had a long-awaited surprise just this morning.
I love my local crows and have been feeding them everyday for many years now. I wait each year for early summer, hoping to capture the Teenage crow “Feed Me!!” phenomenon.
They put on quite the show for me today!! The video is long-ish, and kind of bumpy, but if you listen closely, you’ll hear the reason for the camera jerks.
You can hear Miss Lucy, purring her competitive little heart out, and see the results of her head-butting my camera.
What a wonderful, surprising challenge today!!
Go here to see others’ creative interpretations of “Surprise”!
https://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2020/06/27/lens-artists-photo-challenge-103-surprise/
Looks like the baby crows are getting the idea but still prefer being fed to actually picking up the food themselves. Great video. Thanks.
You really have an eye for the surrounding details – great gallery and video!
Love this post! Great advice.
Great photos and points of view. Those wascally wabbits! We have bunches, too.
What a creative collection of surprises! The “striped” grass especially 🙂
Are you still stuck in quarantine? As I recall (if I remember correctly and I may not) you were living in your basement (?). Whatever the case, I am glad you can get outside. It is fun to take photos and get up close. It is one of my favorite photography things to do too.
Good memory and yes, I get outside every day. Lots of space around here.
Thanks for your comment!
You’re welcome. Glad to hear you have space to get outside. That must make a huge difference 🙂
What Fun!!!
Wonderful photos. Those 2 juveniles are a crack up. Feed me now! But then when the parents leave, it’s like…okay I’ll feed myself. Love this! 💜
Likewise, I loved the fencing strip on plant leaves, hummingbird “shadow” and crow antics. Great surprises close to home.
We have a “home crow pair” too and this year they had 4 offspring, the most we have ever seen over the years. But sadly we had to witness one turning ill, injured, deformed (?) and be ignored by parents only to die. The circle of life – birth, growth, death, decay.