The Green Fuse

After a late night high tide on a full moon everything changes.

The once stark sand bars of the Sooke River delta have began to glow green with new life. Green like a tennis ball, or a lime popsicle, these new plant varieties take on unnatural shades of green. It matches the baby geese's plumage. And many new birds need for food.

During the full moon, the tides take more severe swings; higher highs, lower lows. It was a rainy night too, so the river estuary gets full and life at the water's edge changes.

The morning's low tide exposes a tree top of the same new-life green, grounded on the beach. It's a branch from a large Big leaf maple and its budding upper tips, now horizontal and in the water, are not destined for maturity. A span of 45 cm, a single leaf is a thing to see.

From green buds to glowing sea plants and baby geese on this foggy and fluorescent morning, my senses are filled with the ebb and flow of life.

In the Shade of Big Trees

When I sit in the shade of a big tree, I listen. When I try to write this blog, I talk. As I listen I hear life. The life of birds, wind in the bush, leaves crisply falling or popping in the sun. Two minutes spent silent in the wild forest is a wondrous thing, and relatively hard to imagine or manage especially with other people. Time, quietly and alone spent under a tree, wild or in a park or a yard, is rare. But doesn't it sound great?

I imagine a really big big leaf maple in the summer, a strong tall Cottonwood in fall or a Karnakian Douglas fir on a wet winter day. I just listen. Sleep is okay, I'll hear in my dreams. And think.

I think of wondrous things in this quiet time.