The quiet hum of a
day winding down echoes around this place.
I slam the bunkhouse
door shut behind me and step out with a bounce in my step. Normally a day in
town leaves me feeling drained, but today I instantly felt better as soon as we
pulled into the yard…might have had something to do with the fact that I
survived another driving episode with my sister though.
There’s a breeze
blowing as I pick up my rope and head for the roping dummy, making that
comforting “sighing” sound that trees make.
I’ve been practicing
for a while, when I reposition my wooden sawhorse.
I look up and out.
I look up and out.
Across the road and
in the south pasture there’s a pig slowly threading its way through the long
grass. It stops occasionally and roots at something in the dirt, slowly making
its way towards a group of turkeys that are headed down from the trees on the
hill.
I leave the dummy and
lean on the fence, watching. Across the valley over the neighbor’s barn the
first range of mountaintops are in shadow and the higher peaks kissing the sky
are tinged pink. It’s beautiful. I am absolutely blessed beyond words to get to
live where I do.
When I start towards
the barn to go feed the horses with Adrian, the owl my mums has christened
“Barney the Barn Owl” silently soars out and into the safety of the lower barn.
His whiteness stands out in stark relief against the quickly darkening sky and
I’m glad I’m not a mouse hiding amongst the star thistles.
Have you ever driven
with someone from town and noticed how they only stare straight ahead? They can
only “see” with their eyes, and that sight is regulated to what is directly in
front of them. I’ve sat with friends who never saw the little band of deer
grazing by the freeway, the big hawk soaring along side us with a snake
dangling from its talon’s or the coyote darting into the brush away from the
sound of our truck.
Look around you and
really SEE things. Notice the little details of our world and realize that we
are blessed to live in this world. God didn’t have to give us the animals or
country He did which colors our world, but I’m sure glad He did.
Aren’t you?
xo xo Liz