The Sounds of Silence

With all the hustle and bustle that happens in our day to day lives, it's hard to notice all the simple and amazing things that continuously surround us. Simple things like, the shadow of a tree dancing in a slow breeze or amazing things like a wisp of cloud stretched out to defy the blues of clear sky.

I, like most, am guilty – to a certain degree – of this infraction, but I do my best to find small windows of opportunity where I can ‘unplug’ from the world to become an observer.


A couple of Saturdays ago, I woke to an empty house. Joanne had to work the morning shift at the animal hospital and I slept in. I thought of all the things that I had to do that day and then I decided that it was about time that I had ‘a day without me’ and then my schedule opened right up.

I didn’t turn my computer on to scan any children’s peace art. I didn’t call anyone or even answer the phone when it rang. I didn’t go to the library to check my emails. I didn’t even turn on the television or radio.


But I did go out to my backyard, brush off a patio chair and let a cup of tea warm my hands as I let the sunshine warm my face.

It was one of those rare winter days where the winds were almost non-existent, the sky was blue and the air was filled with silence. I felt the tea warming my body as I sat with eyes closed, facing the sun. My chest rose and fell with each fresh breath and I basked in my winter wonderland and let the troubles of the world pass me by.


When I have moments like this, where I separate myself the world to become a peaceful observer, I am always amazed by the amount of activity that occurs in a seemingly empty place. Every few minutes a short breeze would blow by to lift the lightest snows off of the laden tree branches. These bursts of dazzling crystals would cascade outwards from the trees like winter spirits performing pirouettes as they descended to the ground.

Two chickadees flew by, like fighter jets in a game of tag. They had flown just above my neighbour’s hedge and into my backyard just a few feet away from where I was sitting. I think I startled them more than they had startled me. They were so close that I could actually hear their wind beneath their wings as they zoomed by.

My backyard was an amusement park for my senses. Mother Nature always puts on a spectacular show!!!


Something caught my attention, from just two yards away, and I lifted my head to get a clearer view. With brown wings spread out a small hawk lifted into the sky, coming towards me. It seemed like I could make out individual feathers of dark patterns separated with forks of white as it flew over my head. I turned to watch it continue on its course and the hawk bent its head so that one of its eyes could peer right at me. I smiled in wonder!


After about an hour and a half I became inspired to capture some of these snowy images with my camera. The high puffs of snow that were perched on top of some dead flowers seemed to defy gravity. The shadows of the surrounding trees as they fell across my backyard intrigued my visual senses with all of the contrasting tones of white. The flow of the snow as it had been formed with the winds, on top of my back hedge was full of so much texture and movement.

I think that I could have spent the rest of the day, just wandering around my backyard with my camera in hand, but soon this special time was over.

Joanne came home and I greeted her. She asked why I was looking so peaceful and relaxed. I told her that for over two hours I had done absolutely nothing. “I just sat in our backyard and watched and listened and was amazed!”

My condition was contagious and soon Jo’ and I both settled into the rest of this quiet day. I spent a short time enjoying a book while Joanne stared out the window enjoying a warm hot chocolate. We puttered around doing a few household chores and then it was time to take Koly for a romp through the snow.


The television stayed off, throughout most of the evening, as I spun a few vinyl discs on my record player. After dinner I decided that I had been lazy enough all day long and that it was time for me to do something. I got out a pencil and began to layout my design for a wall mural that I want to paint in our living room.

Ahhhhh! But that’s another story….

Jim

Winter Wonders

I know that not a day goes by without a magical moment provided by Nature. Many people fill their lives with all sorts of things to keep them busy and this, often times, distracts us from being able to witness these magical experiences. This is the story of the moment that I witnessed yesterday afternoon…



Joanne and I were taking Koly for a walk through the park that is just a few blocks away from our house. We noticed that one large area of this park had recently flooded (during the two days of warm weather and lots of rain) and that the surface of this water had frozen (in the few days since the rain – when the temperatures dropped again).


This flood zone filled the space of more than two football fields and when the sun broke through the clouds, a blinding glare reflected off the surface.


Over the last two days, the flood water levels have been slowly dropping. When the water drains, the ice on the surface of the water begins to crack and break off and this can be quite an interesting event to witness. I stood at the edge of this frozen water, surrounded by many trees and fallen branches when I first heard it. It sounded like a small cascade of broken glass.

When the ice formed, it froze to the trees and now that the ice sheet was loosing elevation (mere millimeters at a time) there was a lot of tension between the ice and eventually it would break away from the tree, causing the sounds. In between the sounds of these smaller events – that only occurred at the base of the trees – were the very loud cracks that would echo through this area. These sounds were caused when long fractures within this frozen football field occurred. These sounds didn’t occur very often, but when they did it was really something unique to behold.

I have seen similar events, throughout my life and I still marvel at these occurrences, but this was not the magical moment that I wanted to share with you.

We continued our walk around this great frozen field and then I saw it…


Triangles in the grass. I have never seen anything like this before. There was a small puddle of water – maybe only an inch or so deep – that had frozen over top of the grass below. The thickness of the grass, depth of the puddle and elevation of the water in the puddle had all worked together to create this magical display of Nature’s architecture.


As we continued our walk, I scoured the ground for more examples of this phenomena and found none. I thought that it was interesting that our meandering path through this park had led us to possibly, the only small area where these conditions existed to create these geometric formations of ice crystals.

Moments like these are very special in my life. I always feel that, somehow, I was led to these places for the soul purpose of learning. During these moments, I can hear an old Native prayer being spoken in my mind…


“O Great Spirit, whose breath gives life to the world and whose voice is heard in the soft breeze – make us wise so that we may understand what you have to teach us, help us learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock, make us always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes, so when life fades, as the fading sunset, our spirits may come to you without shame.”

Jim

Mount Jim

Two weeks ago, I was leaving my house with Koly, to take him for a walk. It was a sunny day, which contrasted greatly with the previous evening, which was filled with a heavy snowfall. I began the day by shoveling our driveway while Joanne prepared our breakfast. Now it was time to give Koly a bit of exercise.

As we were leaving the house I noticed that our neighbour’s children and a friend were trying to use their snow sleds on the piled up snow along the edge of the road. My concern for their safety grew when one little girl slid onto the road. I called them all over and I told them that playing in such a way could cause a bad accident. I told them that I wanted them to continue having fun on the pile of snow that was once my front lawn.


Since that time, we have received quite a bit more snow. Now, when I’m clearing the driveway, I go out of my way to make sure that I pile the snow nice and high in one spot to give the girls a higher hill to slide down. This growing hill has been named – by the three young girls – Mount Jim. I laughed when they told me this.


With the children playing in our front yard I feel confident that they are safe. This has also put a smile on my face for another reason. Occasionally during the evenings, when Jo’ and I are eating our dinner or watching a bit of television, we’ll hear the shouts of laughter and joy, from these girls, while they are sledding. Mount Jim has now grown so high that we can see the tops of their hats bobbing along, outside of our second floor window!!!

Our most important responsibility is ensuring the safety of our children. When they acknowledge these actions by filling the air with laughter, we know that we have done our job well!

Jim