Drops of Beauty #193

June 4, 2024

“Last night, I dreamt that my future self called my cell phone and when I picked up all he said was: be softer with us.” - Jerome Braggs, “Last night, I dreamt”

Hello friends! I no sooner wrote about softening to myself and honoring my body’s needs than the universe threw me a test. Sunday morning I woke up late (5:30 AM), opened the curtain and everything outside was bathed in red. It was unexpected and quite spectacular. I did throw on clothes and walk outside, trying to do it gently and without hurrying. I’m not going to lie, I would love to have seen (and photographed) that sunrise with the reflection over the water. Recognizing this as an opportunity to tell myself and the universe I was serious about what I wrote, I was very conscious and careful to reassure every part of me that it was ok not to have that photo and that experience. This experience was enough and even if I had slept through it that would have been ok.

I was listening to one of Jerome Bragg’s teachings recently where he said that when you change something important, the universe always throws you a test to see if you are serious. I hope I passed the test! Here is a photo from that beautiful morning:

Sunrise June 2, 2024 - you can see it even turned the green fields red. This was taken with a wide angle lens and it wasn’t nearly wide enough to capture the breadth of it.

Here are more moments of beauty for your day:

Mr. horned lark singing his song.

Had to show this view so you can see why he’s called a “horned lark”.

And then this hard working dad was delivering bugs for breakfast.

The baby horned larks have to be fed after all!

Speaking of hard working dads, mr. purple martin was wrestling fresh leaves for the nest.

Leaves can apparently be fierce foes, but he was victorious.

Mr. cardinal and mr. indigo bunting chose an easier path, foraging in the plentiful mulberries.

This baby cardinal was following dad and learning to find mulberries on his own.

The wildflowers are abundant right now! Many of my neighbors want them mowed so I’m taking as many photos as I can before that happens.

I love that the yellow salsify flower above turns into this seed ball. I think it looks like fireworks!

Spotted sandpipers are still around. They must be nesting but I don’t know where.

It’s a little baffling to me how a heron swallows a turtle whole, shell and all.

This red-eared slider was hanging around dangerously close to the heron.

This turtle was way too big for the heron. These softshell turtles are so intriguing to me, I’d like to learn more about them. Also, reason number 10093 that AI is not ready to take over the world, it tried to identify this photo as a bat.

Moths and butterflies are becoming much more abundant now. Look at those antennae - they look like feathers! AI says this is a Mellilla xanthometata (orange wing moth).

The sulphur butterflies are two for the price of one right now! Or put another way, “Birds do it, bees do it…” and so do butterflies.

Even a photo of golden water is relaxing.

May you find softness and ease in your week.