Watch on the Wild Side

"Watch on the Wild Side", 4x4" oil on black canvas board

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"The call of the wild is a call to the elemental levels of the soul, the places of intuition, kinship, swiftness, fluency and the consolation of the lonesome that is not lonely."

— John O' Donohue

Swallowed alive by the demands of the holiday season, it felt good to return to the solitary retreat of my loft studio, brushes, the smell of paint, and the hours of quiet that sustain with the fullness of silence. 

I sat for a long time today watching a myriad of wintering birds fluttering from limb to limb outside my window. They darted in and out of dry seed pods at the tips of barren crepe myrtles, creating lacy umber patterns against the cold blue sky. Under the empty bird feeder, a small flock of morning dove peck and forage for scraps rudely knocked to the ground by a rowdy band of squirrels. These uninvited guests barge in and squander while hanging upside down from the fast-food diner in search of the choicest entrees of corn and sunflower seeds. 

Just over the fence, the noisy celebration continues among a lush canopy of loblolly pine, sweetgum, oak, magnolia, dogwood, just to name a few. Shrouding a host of low lying natives, this piece of forest provides protection for a multitude of bird-loving plants, berries, grasses and shrubs like: american beautyberry, black cherry, pigeonberry, turkscap, redbud, yaupon holly, maiden hair fern, trumpet and grapevines, dwarf palmetto, and hundreds of others whose names I am unfamiliar.

Today was just another extraordinary day camouflaged in the ordinary.

Thanks for viewing today's songbird the Wood Thrush. Happy New Year!

nancy

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