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Storms and Flooding – yet Delight is Hiding in Plain Sight 

  

African Flag flower  

 

When the bushtits flock into to my garden, all my senses leap into a state of delight. Always. And out of the blue it happens in the middle of Tuesday’s historic storm. The pounding rain is easing for a moment, but the winds are increasing their gusts to 70 – 90 mi/h. The Camellia tree and fence are falling over again, despite staking efforts after the previous week’s atmospheric river. I am out clearing drains, evaluating, fixing and fastening things. To my huge surprise – in midst of ferocious winds whipping the big oaks, loud clanging of my many chimes, a sonic chaos swelling and ebbing like the agitated ocean – the bushtits arrive! Twittering away with their soft chips, fluttering and flitting about, hanging upside down, foraging for the tiniest insects and spiders. Their plumage gets ruffled by the gusts, but otherwise the birds seem unperturbed. As if this swirling atmospheric river with its two eyes, as if this hurricane-strength storm, is not happening at all.  

 

Listening to the bushtits, I feel engulfed by a different kind of strength, forgetting about the havoc the winds are wreaking, the massive downpours, the flooding. These tiny soft fluffy creatures are twirling about, feasting with purpose right before my eyes and ears. Suddenly I am swallowed up in THEIR world. I can’t help but smile, an ancient truth is confirmed. The thing is to be small. To be soft, malleable, flexible, with gusto for life. To move in lightly arranged flocks, spontaneous, individual, unique, and yet belonging, equal among the many. Arriving and leaving, ever changing in formation. 


Barely able to capture one last straggler: she lets me come close… 

 

Today's visit I will always remember. The buzzing sweet energy of the flock within the tempestuous atmospheric river. My good luck of witnessing bushtits’ feathery little bodies ruffled by hurricane gusts, darting about as if nothing much is happening. These adorable dancers in the air are steady within their center and motion. Never blown off wildly swaying stalks, clinging upside down to African Flag plants or apple tree branches. No struggle. Far from that, it’s all about swinging and floating. Nothing deters them from joie de vivre! They are dancing with it all. With delight. Off she is – joining her roaming flock. Awe-some. Wondrous. 


Sunset the day after 

Comments

  1. FernMarch 24, 2023 at 6:04 PM

    Yes! Exactly. The thing is to be small! It is all about swinging and floating....as we glide down the atmospheric river we must always keep our joie de vivre! No one could have said it better, your words float into my world. Thank You!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alex KMarch 25, 2023 at 3:57 PM

    What a beautiful and wise post. I can imagine you like a captain on a ship in the ocean during a fierce storm. Going about the ship, doing what you can to secure the ship despite the fierce elements. And in the midst of your engagement because of your engagement a moment of grace seeing... I learn so much from you!

    P.S. The bushtit on the flower is adorable:)

    ReplyDelete

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