The Snowy Egret or Golden Slippers has yellow feet and a black bill.
Golden Slippers
Marsh Birds
I watch egrets and herons stand still, maybe take a step and then, another, until, and then … a fish!
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack – feeding depends on the tides.
I’m with these words of T.S. Eliot, from “Ash Wednesday, Part 6”;
Teach us to sit still.
I learn stillness and response watching my feathered friends. They are exquisitely feathered right now. It’s breeding as well as feeding time, and it’s cold. They also spend time grooming.
Oddly, each time I go to type houseboat, I type lifeboat. I think both are true.
Egrets, Herons, and Ducks
Yesterday was a field day for me as I immersed in the life of birds. I took about 200 photos. This is a taste.
Gifts
We are showered with gifts, but they are not meant for us to keep. Their life is in their movement, the inhale and the exhale of our shared breath. Our work and our joy is to pass along the gift and to trust that what we put out into the universe will always come back.
– Robin Wall Kimmerer
Morning at the Marsh
Turtles
Yesterday I was at Larkspur Landing and coming up to the fountain saw two turtles. They weren’t moving and didn’t look real so I thought they were decoratively placed to allow the mallards to step over to enter their abode. Then, they moved, not much, just a blink and a shot of tongue. Yes, the turtles are real, and judging from the cobweb the mallards aren’t impressed with their house.
Early Morning with the Birds
Such a Day!
Impermanence
This morning, high tide, birds were swimming all around my floating home, and the boat was bobbing up and down. I felt like I was on a trampoline, and of course, like life, that changed.
Low Tide on the Houseboat
It’s low tide. An egret flies by the window. A Great Blue Heron lands right outside the window and then slowly strolls and explores around the boat.
Jimmy Carter, at 98, enters Hospice. An inspiration, he’s lived a spiritual life. I think of him with these words of The Dalai Lama:
“Every day, think as you wake up,
Today I am fortunate to be alive.
I have a precious human life,
I am not going to waste it.
I am going to use all my energies to develop myself,
To expand my heart out to others,
To achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.
I am going to have kind thoughts towards others.
I am not going to get angry or think badly about others.
I am going to benefit others as much as I can.
My religion is very simple, my religion is kindness.”
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