Leaves rustled
My kitty on alert, focussed
Barely a breath of wind
My book would have to wait
Two squirrels vying for the same branch
One scrambled higher
The other sat quietly and stared
At me?
At the black cat, hampered by a dumb leash,
desperately wanted to pounce.
Photo snapped, back to my book.
“Well, it may be humorous to you,
but it’s a very serious matter to the squirrels.”
~ Lisa Kleypas, author
[and to the cat]
~ Me
 |
| Regina ~ July, 2023 |
This morning, I watched them ~ three little darlings scampering across the street. The boldest already racing up the first available tree. The middle ‘child’ was merely following along. The last one was still in the middle of the road trying to decide which way to turn to avoid the huge white monster bearing down on it. All three made it to safety. I turned away to get my coffee and to read. Silence was broken by the very busy rustling of the tree out front. I didn’t leap to my feet, but had to satisfy my curiosity. There they were the three red young-un’s, tails flashing, racing up, down, every single branch from one tree to the next. So fast that I could not get a photo of the flying three. Back to my book. A very loud, abrupt and insistent chitter stopped all the leafy noise. I could only assume that mom was calling her wayward kids home for lunch!
“Well, it may be humorous to you,
but it’s a very serious matter to the squirrels.”
~ Lisa Kleypas, author
Furies of wind tossed
winter debris hither and yon
threatened to make kites
of dust covers
in yards and balconies
danced with branches
freed into airborne rain
new leaves opened
into the wet wildness
squirrels, cats and birds
abandoned sidewalks and trees
electric technologies snatched
into silent darkness
neighbours together-ed
for reassurance and laughter.
“Wind tries to show Tree how to run wild.
Tree: “I cannot leave this place.”
Wind: “Then let’s dance.”
~ Terri Guillemets, writer
So many of the photos
I take are lovely flowers,
grand sky-scapes,
ancient elms,
Flamboyant fall colours,
expanses of water
here and on Vancouver Island.
Then there are squirrels:
In leafy branches
Perched in the grass
Running along fences
Scampering across roads
Racing up and around a tree trunk
And this little guy ~ on duty.
“Do your duty as you see it, and damn the consequences.”
~ George S. Patton Jr.
on a bench far from the bell towers, the air silent save for
the raucous calling of crows
to interrupt this peaceful Sunday morn; crunching leaves, dry cracked earth,
squirrels scampered, a backyard barbecue grilled juicy hamburgers.
a woman played with her child on bright blue and red swings. I imagined
the tolling of the bells -
their music drifting into the sky,
settling over the city in peace and calm.
“For bells are the voice of the church;
They have tones that touch and search
the hearts of young and old.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Squirrels peek around trees
or stare from a branch
Dogs adore everyone
Big brown eyes melt us all
Cats - well, they sleep.
Or insist with their eyes
This tree looks at the world
peaceful and watching.
“There is, I conceive, scarcely any tree that may not be advantageously
used in the various combinations of form and colour.”
~ Gilpin
