Side Roads of Life


One of the side roads I took last week with my sister and her husband was to this meadow at the crest of the mountain ridge. It was here a couple weeks ago we had seen the herd of elk and we wanted to go back to get better pictures. The elk evidently did not share our same agenda and on the two mornings we laid in wait with cameras did not show up.

Day one we picked a location in the trees and suffered for our art as we watched the dawn sun begin to warm the air and earth just beyond where we stood shivering and hungry as we had delayed breakfast to be there. Yesterday we wised up. We ate breakfast before our early predawn departure and picked the sunny side of the meadow.

We sat soaking in the silence and the sun and the beauty around us in relative comfort. We had even dressed in more appropriate predawn clothing. Yes, I know it is August but in the highlands that means the nights are getting chillier again. In fact we even had a hard frost the night before. That is early for even this altitude.

As I said, the elk did not make their scheduled entrance upon our carefully orchestrated stage but all the birds showed up. Including a pair of hawks trying to lure their fledglings from the protection of their nest into flight. Most every little nature dance was too far away to photograph well and so we just sat and drunk it all in.

Our moment of Zen. We watched Mother Nature open for the day.

I live about 5 miles from here as the crow flies. People pay big bucks to come here. I just have to stop keeping on in my routine and take a side road up the mountain.

Comments

  1. thebutlerAugust 12, 2009 at 7:34 PM

    This looks a lovely place for Zen moments and to be able to share them with your loved ones..priceless!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Blog of BeeAugust 13, 2009 at 2:57 PM

    Isn't Mother nature wonderful?

    I can breathe in the air from here. You do live in a beautiful spot.

    ReplyDelete

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