It’s the second last day of summer. Autumn is in the air. There’s a chill in the early morning. My feet need warmth.
I recall the warmth of the sea that encased my feet, not long ago in Jurien Bay.
The morning was tinted in muted colours. The beach, nearly empty.
When the jogger was out of sight, the seagull kept me company
I stepped off the jetty to watch the dolphins play. They enjoyed the limelight.
As if it noticed me, one flipped on it’s back and swam a length, to show off the latest party trick.
The tide was leaving. The sun arrived.
I started to see things that first startled me … a mouse?!
I relaxed. Angel wings, or perhaps a butterfly.
I realised, the pristine sand was just shells, waiting for time, like me.
There was plenty to distract me, like the honeyeater in the scrub.
The cormorant on the pontoon, in the early morning sun.
The pied oystercatcher, with mate.
As the day ended, lovers, like lovers often do, stopped to watch a setting sun slide into the sea.
Like I said in the previous post, yes I’ve travelled the world, but every morning I wake in awe, to find it at my feet.
May you do too.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
She saw colours more vibrant
than any painting in a gallery.
And when colours were muted
she found, they still told a story.
She searched for the Cape Barren Geese, at every trip to Esperance and found the giant bird, doing the impossible. Looking elegant.
Her eyes held a joey’s gaze while it snuggled deep within the mother’s pouch. It was something she only read about.
She walked with waders until they found the perfect palette for her to capture the moment.
She delighted in the ice cream pink wave of flowers, she found one day, in spring.
I found them in my garden.
Viola! in the strawberry, waiting to fruit.
Among bush tracks.
Against a fence.
In the neighbour’s garden.
In the eyes of the magpie lark, as it picked through the remnants of my breakfast.
In the eyes of a sick dog, who knows she is loved.
In my eyes, when I found the heart I left behind.
And, when I walked among the ‘sea clouds’.
I found my very own Milky Way.
So I took it home, and like a child at Halloween, emptied my pockets of loot.
Breakfast, freshly caught, in beak.
He rinsed the creature in the ocean, while those thug-like seagulls surrounded him.
In a flash, it was gone, and I watched a free for all.
The big gull looked on, bemused.
But, managed to get his meal back. This time the seagulls, looked on, silently.
The tide was cruel, and took the creature back to sea. The Pacific Gull looked on forlornly.
it stalked the shore
waited patiently
then turned his back
and flew back to the sea.
“I leave this by your ear for when you wake,
The footfall of blue dragonflies, on a lily carpet”
I am home now. The rainbow lorikeets are in the tree, screeching. The beautiful sounds of the currawong, echoing. The flapping sounds of big winged birds as they head for the lake, above me. The musical fluted call of the Willie Wagtail, outside my window.
I hear them with my eyes closed.
The big winged raptors in the trees.
The jacana. Oh! what big feet for a delicate, elegant bird!
The white faced heron, silent and poised.
Silvereye are tiny birds. They weigh around 10 grams. To find one feeding, oh! the joy!
I parked my car and walked to them. Soon the flock relaxed in my company. Some sitting on bare branches. This little one, still holding an insect.
One allowed me to inch closer. The puddle, just across from it, proving irresistible.
On the ground, they bunny hop. I caught this one mid-hop.
I’m pretty sure the look of surprise on my face, was just as comical.
Breathe in. Breathe out. My senses now acute.
There is someone having breakfast above me. I move my lens away from the remnants cast aside carelessly.
On the other side, the rhythmic thump on dry leaves tells me there’s a grey kangaroo in there. Somewhere.
I close my eyes. I hear the sea in the Marri tree tops. This, in deep Wheatbelt country.
The tops are crowned with flowers, with some blossoms hanging low, like fruit of the vine.
And, that’s when I saw her. She looked bewildered at my presence.
But not as bewildered as me, to find a shiny bauble in this bush country.
As well as a mother knows her chick.
Birds often pair for life, each the beloved of the other.
Two walk as one. Well, almost.
Others huddle close together to appear as one … to large predatory raptors.
Have you seen dragonflies mate? In a word, violently. Finding a beloved, they end the battle, in heart-shaped unity.
On weekends, kayaks rest side by side signalling, the beloveds are nearby.
Yes, to be loved and beloved, is in our nature.
A Shared Space 
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