I have seen seven Garter snakes on recent walks and I retrieved the first tick of the season off my body last night.
The bears don’t have much to eat yet. You can see the grass in the photograph I took of the scat I saw on a walk a couple days ago. Yesterday on a walk my son and I saw what looked like a one year old bear cub but didn’t see a mom around. I hope it is not an orphan.
The mud puddles offer new landscapes though everything is drying up with some warm days recently. There is still plenty of snow in the Mission Mountains of Northwest Montana. Where I walk I get to see the dramatic ridge lines on East and West St. Mary’s Peaks.
I love the transitions of the seasons. Coming home from a walk last week the late evening sun created a soft green glow on the hillside behind our house. In the image you can see the jagged lines of the Dandelion leaves. The common name, Dandelion, “comes from the French “dent de lion”—tooth of lion—referring to the sharp leaf lobes.” The light filtered through the new leaves created a captivating space to rest for a bit. It is good to have moments to be enchanted with the world when every day we hear so much news about the harm humans are inflicting on the planet. May we be enchanted and inspired by the beauty of the world and gather strength to find the actions we can take to support healthy sustainable life for all beings and the earth.
“Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled—
to cast aside the weight of facts
and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.”
from “The Ponds” by Mary Oliver
