The trees were frosty this morning. Now as the sun is out and warming the bare branches, I look up from my desk to find red and blue lights twinkling at me from the buds. Not many, and if I move my head they disappear, and I know I will lose them as the sun crosses the sky. Or the earth turns on its journey, as an old math teacher of mine would have pointed out.
I often tell folks here at the farm to “Keep your eyes up!” Partly it is for safety, partly it is for moments like these, when the sun hits that melting drop of water just right and suddenly the trees are winking at you with prisms of light only you can see. That as quickly as they appear, they will be gone, so take the time to stop and look with wonder at this beautiful place we call earth. That we call home.
Earlier that morning I stood at my window watching 2 cardinals, a male and female, and a bird I didn’t know scratching in the dirt, and leaf litter under a large cedar tree that grows outside my office. The bird I didn’t know was striped with brown, but had a grey head. It was small and determined. While the cardinals scratched around a bit here and there, stopping to cock a head at some sound, the smaller bird would hop forward, drag the dirt back, peck with purpose, then do it again, and again and again. Quietly, I reached for my bird book and went about looking it up. Thrush? No, not there, wren? Nope. It was so beautiful with all the brown striping and spots I almost passed over the sparrow section, but there he was, my little friend was a Song Sparrow. (Perhaps a she? According to the book males and females look the same, contrary to the cardinals obvious differences.)
During our day camp a few years back, a boy of about 8 years old, pointed and asked, “What bird is that?”
I looked at the bird and back at the boy. “You really don’t know?” I asked. He shook his head. “That’s a Robin.” Perhaps that was when my resolve took hold that I needed to be teaching, not just about horses, but about the world they live in. A world that is full of Robins, and Song Sparrows and Cardinals, as well as the ducks and chickens and horses that are purposefully here. The Red Cedars, and oaks and maples that give shade to all, and seeds and homes to the birds and squirrels. To listen for the Sandhill cranes, and the Red-winged blackbird songs, for they are the true tellers of spring. That we live in a beautiful world, but you must keep your eyes and heart open, to see it.