{"id":82,"date":"2008-11-04T22:44:19","date_gmt":"2008-11-05T02:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogshevik.com\/garneredimages\/?p=82"},"modified":"2008-11-04T22:44:19","modified_gmt":"2008-11-05T02:44:19","slug":"finding-my-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/?p=82","title":{"rendered":"Finding My Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.”
\n(Mother Teresa)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are those who seek their god inside a building each Sunday morning; sharing pomp, circumstance, and ritual with those of like mind.\u00a0 Me?\u00a0 I prefer to go straight to the source for my spiritual solace, and of late it’s been a visit to\u00a0a local nature preserve.<\/p>\n

Being\u00a0out in open, wild\u00a0space as the day dawns, with a bit of old forest wrapping around like a cloak soon to be opened by the\u00a0growing light\u00a0to reveal secrets both feathered and furred, is a deeply satisfying experience.\u00a0 Even if it’s hard to tear my Self away from the warm bed and much-needed sleep, and even, like this past Sunday morning, if the temperature hovers near the freezing point.<\/p>\n

Most\u00a0such mornings bring a plethora of joys to my eyes and camera.\u00a0 Nature’s alarm clock rings with the\u00a0cries of the geese as they lift off loudly\u00a0in concert with\u00a0the first rays of the sun, and we often see the deer as they cautiously make their way to bed down away from the prying eyes of other, disrespectful humans and their barking, running-loose dogs.\u00a0\u00a0There are the occasional\u00a0mornings, though,\u00a0when all remains\u00a0strangely silent.\u00a0\u00a0This time there was only one lone and enormous owl that glided silently\u00a0past the meadow-edge trees and headed into the deep woods; it appeared and then disappeared so fast there was no time to aim the camera and shoot, only to marvel at\u00a0such a\u00a0first-ever sight.<\/p>\n

We soon ended up in our favorite spot, at the top of the meadow near the edge of the woods, marked by one enormous, old fallen tree.\u00a0 It is a favorite resting spot for most of the preserve’s feathered denizens and affords a clear view of the deer paths.\u00a0 On quiet summer mornings, it is enough to just be there; the smells and sounds are a soothing comfort that bring balance back to this city-weary soul.\u00a0 At mid-fall, however, there isn’t enough long underwear or warm enough boots to make up for a lack of activity and after only an hour I was quite ready to call it quits and head back to our cozy home in the ‘hood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And though I tried mightily, I was able to come up with only one shot:<\/p>\n

\"Mid-fall<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It didn’t seem fair, especially since our last visit found us smack in the middle of a whole flock of cedar waxwings taking advantage of the\u00a0final fall\u00a0feast of berries:<\/p>\n

\"Cedar<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As is par for the course,\u00a0shortly after arriving back home the usual suspects in fur coats were all over the backyard and I took advantage of it to capture a portrait of Titan, one of the orphans raised here last spring,\u00a0now on his own:<\/p>\n

\"Titan\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.” (Mother Teresa) \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}