Thankful for beauty's reprise

We've seen lots more swans the past two days, in the air, on the ground and on the once again open waters of the Carlos Avery Sunrise River pools. There's a lot of Canada geese in the area too. We saw a couple of very large flocks about mid-day, probably headed for open water on one of the larger, deeper lakes. Our warmer temperatures haven't triggered much ice melt on the small, still waters that froze last week.

Late yesterday the Better Half noticed some sandhill cranes in a distant field and some large white birds mixed in. As first I speculated the white birds might be a couple of whooping cranes but then realized it's more likely they were swans. I was driving and didn't get anything like a good view of the distant birds. A brief mile or so later, we noticed a flock of six or seven swans flying into and out of the mist under some low-lying clouds. It's reassuring to know that the Southern migration hasn't yet caused abandonment of the neighborhood by some of our more interesting and attractive neighbors.

early December, Southbound swans on Carlos Avery pools

Photo by J. Harrington

Today I'm thankful that there's the beauty of waterfowl to be enjoyed in our neighborhood, and the talent of poets such as Mary Oliver to help us recognize the beauty of so much of what we see. (I bet you were expecting a cavil about our extended cloudy, damp, dreary weather. Surprise, this is the month for Thanksgiving!)

The Swan

by Mary Oliver

Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air -
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music - like the rain pelting the trees - like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds -
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?

********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.

Thankful today for a mixed bag

Yesterday, there was a bald eagle perched on the edge of the ice at the Sunrise River pools in the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area. Today the Better Half and I saw a nice whitetail buck chasing a doe across some harvested farm fields and, later in the morning, a pair of wild turkeys that tried to commit suicide by running across the road in front of a red Chevy pickup that was in front of us. The pickup driver was too quick for the turkeys and the truck's brake lights gave us plenty of warning so we stopped in time to avoid the back end of the pickup. I'm thankful that we live somewhere that there's wildlife sometimes to see and always to be on the watch for. I'm also thankful that the Endangered Species Act helped restore populations of America's symbol to the point that seeing one in Minnesota is not a rare or uncommon event.

thankful populations of our national symbol have been restored

Photo by J. Harrington

It remains to be seen if I'll end up being thankful for the animal repellant we bought this morning at a local feed and grain store. It's supposed to last for several months and work on deer, mice, rabbits and a variety of local varmints that complicate country life. We'll put some packets of it in the dash of the tractor and zip tie some other packets to the black chokeberry bushes the deer keep pruning. If the mice don't nest in the tractor and chew through the wires, and we get at least a small crop of chokeberries next Autumn, I'll be thankful we discovered (were told about) the repellant we bought. It may let us avoid having to work on the tractor in January or February to replace the repellants (supposed to last up to a month) that we recently bought at the hardware store. For now, we're thankful we have something that's supposed to work for several months and that we have a new entry to place in our country living "live and learn" file.

Winter, whitetail doe

Photo by J. Harrington

If you enjoy short poems, prose poems, flash fiction and nonfiction, you might want to see if you can find a bookstore that carries a new publication called Stone Gathering, A Reader. It comes our quarterly. We get ours at Scout & Morgan books in Cambridge, but you can also subscribe [follow the  publication link]. So far we've read about one and one half of the three volumes published and have thoroughly enjoyed everything we've read. We're thankful the publisher decided to start this "little literature for the rest of us" effort.

The Thanksgivings

By Harriet Maxwell Converse

We who are here present thank the Great Spirit that we are here

          to praise Him.

We thank Him that He has created men and women, and ordered

          that these beings shall always be living to multiply the earth.

We thank Him for making the earth and giving these beings its products

          to live on.

We thank Him for the water that comes out of the earth and runs

          for our lands.

We thank Him for all the animals on the earth.

We thank Him for certain timbers that grow and have fluids coming

          from them for us all.

We thank Him for the branches of the trees that grow shadows

          for our shelter.

We thank Him for the beings that come from the west, the thunder

          and lightning that water the earth.

We thank Him for the light which we call our oldest brother, the sun

          that works for our good.

We thank Him for all the fruits that grow on the trees and vines.

We thank Him for his goodness in making the forests, and thank

          all its trees.

We thank Him for the darkness that gives us rest, and for the kind Being

          of the darkness that gives us light, the moon.

We thank Him for the bright spots in the skies that give us signs,

          the stars.

We give Him thanks for our supporters, who had charge of our harvests.

We give thanks that the voice of the Great Spirit can still be heard

          through the words of Ga-ne-o-di-o.

We thank the Great Spirit that we have the privilege of this pleasant

          occasion.

We give thanks for the persons who can sing the Great Spirit's music,

          and hope they will be privileged to continue in his faith.

We thank the Great Spirit for all the persons who perform the ceremonies

          on this occasion.

********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.