Another peaceful night

I just had a cup of hot tea out on my deck. The wind is dead calm and the ocean is quite loud. The sky is dark and moonless yet alive and vibrant with countless stars. I can see Venus still clinging to the night, hanging low in the south western horizon just above the ends of the earth. Mars broods high above me, directly overhead. Saturn is behind me to the east, a late comer to this night.

Earlier I heard the owl that hunts my property. She was singing her victory song and letting me know that she is growing old but still one of my nocturnal companions. I don't know how old owls get, I don't want to know really. But she is a great big owl and has been here many years. Sometimes I call her my owl but she is not mine, she belongs to the night time just as I do.

The cool night air carries the scent of the ocean and the trees. Two very powerful aromas that tell me I am home. The sea, the forest, the night, within the embrace of these I am always home. I am home on the ocean, I have spent many nights at sea dreaming of the things that live within her. I have spent many nights in the forest becoming a forest creature myself.

The sky is still quite dark and alive with a magic only the night can possess. The jealous sun has yet to even touch edges of the night time's shore. Yet it is inevitable and almost tangible. The daytime is soon to intrude, I can feel it approaching. There is something else too. Something else I have been feeling the past week or so. Fall is on it's way, I can feel it's approach too. It is off a ways yet but still, it is coming. Fall is not an intrusion though, I welcome Fall much like I welcome the night. So full of promise and the start to so much creativity.

Time for one more cup of hot tea, time to sow the seeds of dreams. Time to listen to the waves, to close my eyes and hear the sails set full on days when the sun warms my body. Time to think of elk and dear, sharks and whales, time to think on the stories told to me by my elders. Good night my friends, it is time to dream.

Otter

Wonderful gray morning

I put a pot of water on this morning for hot tea and then went and soaked in the hot tub for a bit. Dawn was just beginning and the sky was gray. After the hot tub soak I poured a cup of tea, stood out on my deck and listened to the ocean. I watched a large male elk graze in my yard for a few minutes before he caught the smell of something and hurried off. The humming birds were fighting over the bird feeder and a pair of swallows started chattering at me. I guess they were telling me good morning.

There is a slight mist mixed in with a pretty good fog. All the colors are muted and everything seems so still, almost like the entire scene before me has some tangible weight to it. There are song birds I can't identify somewhere near by, hidden in the fog. There are ravens talking back and forth. The calm landscape broken by the sounds of birds is a glorious way to greet another day and I am very much enjoying this. Time for another cup of hot tea.

That was my morning tea, how was your morning tea, coffee.... or whatever you may do to start your day. I hope you enjoyed your morning and were able to greet another day with joy and peace.

Otter