This morning, as I was sipping my second cup of coffee, I went outside to inspect the metal deck chairs I subjected to pressure washing yesterday afternoon. My intent was to determine which ones needed more work and which ones were ready to be sanded in preparation for painting. But I was distracted by Mother Nature. She caught my attention, first, with the hummingbirds enjoying the cool morning air by stopping at some of the feeders hanging just outside the screened porch. Two of them buzzed up for breakfast, slurping nectar while they rested their wings. And then I saw another bird, a wren perhaps, land on the deck railing. Such an incredibly loud song for such a small bird! And I heard turkeys gobbling, somewhere on the slope below. The sounds of cattle, noises that I interpreted as calls for food, from the farm beyond the edge of the village caught my attention next, and then roosters crowing well past dawn. I heard, and then saw, a blue jay establish dominion over its empire on the east side of the house.
When I finally came back inside the house, I immediately missed the coolness of the air on the deck and I realized walls and windows muffle the world. Now that I’ve satisfied myself by relieving these words from my mind and my fingers, I will return to Mother Nature to let her remind me that I need not be confined to an indoor world that’s muffled by walls and windows.
