After the Rain

After the rain, the world of nature looks a bit more intense, colorful, deeper, richer in the shades of greens and browns. With the clouds gray and fall like, yet not so heavy as to shed water from them, I walked outside, searching, watching, for new things yet at the same time, glancing at things I already knew well....seeing them in the more intense tones that come after a few inches of rainfall. The ground soggy and muddy in areas, my feet sinking into the soft soil. Crows calling over head, old friends perhaps that have fed at my crow feeders in the past. The kittens, now 6 months old, tag along on my walk, getting underfoot and yet still cute.

One cannot help but feel alive in this kind of weather. Eyes open with childlike wonder marvelling at the signs of the season change and the cycle of life enters another phase.

I cannot for the life of me understand anyone staying inside on a day like this, unless work or being housebound due to health prohibited it. If I had an office job I think at times I would just feel caged, like an animal in a zoo. Sitting inside at home all day would be no better. There is a world of nature calling to be looked at, to be admired. The leaf strewn paths beckon me, call me with as strong a voice as any song. The way the floor of the woods smells after a rain is so clean a scent, so full of subtleties, like a fine wine perhaps. If you stand still, in total silence, flaring your nostrils, a bit like an animal maybe, you can pick out the different contributors to the overall scent. No one is watching so it doesn't matter what you look like while doing it. So what if your nose looks a bit funny... the pay off is worth it. You become aware of something special. Almost a secret, yes it is a secret of the woods.
A crow sits over head as I stand there, sniffing. He seems amused at me, confused a bit too. He squawks three times and I pull out my crow caller and squawk back at him....I think he laughed at my attempt to sound like one of his kind. But he nods and croaks down at me. I move on a bit, the darkness of the tree bark so full of textures that I have to go deeper to see more. I am so thankful for the woods at the end of our property, for the joy they bring in each season. Just another wonderful day...a simple day, after the rain.

The woods calling to be explored

a rose hip

The chickens, bold and bright against the deep green of the grass

The pine needles dripping with drops of rain

One very cold butterfly

The dark texture of a mulberry trees bark

A colorful fungus

The "berries" soon to become seed pods of the crepe myrtle