The Wonders of Nature

We were driving home from the lake yesterday afternoon and I spotted a flock of pelicans. I felt the awe of the moment and shared my amazement with my son. 

My youngest son is a pretty stoic guy and the word "excited" does not describe his nature the vast majority of the time. I believe he quietly shakes his head with some of my observations and the wonders of the world around us. His comment to me was that having a daycare sure made me appreciate nature.

My response to him came easy and is 100% what I believe. "That is what I loved about my daycare days. There is nothing like seeing the world through the eyes of a child, noticing things for the first time."

I remember the time my oldest son and I were camping with literally nothing around us but nature. We noticed an industrious colony of ants. I have the greatest admiration for those hard working insects. During my daycare days, I fondly remember the number of times we would stop a walk in progress to marvel at the load a tiny ant had on its back. 

Up and coming easily amazed children gave me an excuse to stop and marvel at the smallest of things. 

I spent Saturday morning outside breathing in the day with our cats. I have numerous pictures of our cats enjoying the day (though I wasn't fast enough to capture our senior cat in residence as he noticed/chased the small moths in the grass and the kitten I saw in his actions), but it was the bird calls that caught my attention.

This chatty robin seemed to be keeping his eye on the activity within our yard and was sending out warnings to all his friends and family that there were cats on the loose:

There was more than one bird in this tree at the time I took the picture. I wondered if I would be able to zoom in and find it in a Where's Waldo kind of way. Here is a close up to the chatty robin:

As my family canoed and kayaked on the lake yesterday, I was lucky enough to get to sit on the beach and simply marvel at the world around me. Once again, I have an arsenal of pictures of my family on the water but I got that feeling of child-like awe when I spotted a pelican:

The pelican never got any closer but thanks to modern technology, I could zoom in on him too:

I have offered to spend some time out at my son's farm and oversee their two dogs, two rabbits and twenty two cats while they go on vacation. As we visited yesterday, I had my eyes on the nature-viewing spots on their deck and found myself anticipating this upcoming retreat and quiet oasis away from it all.

There is truly nothing like looking into the landscape and taking in the wonders of nature. I just wish it didn't include ticks!