Hummingbird moment

It happened for two mornings in a row and only as a result of walking the dogs. There is a part of our walk that leads through wildflowers on the edge of a swamp and, from a doggy perspective, is filled with intense and varied smells. This particular part of the walk takes a long time to accomplish even though the distance is very short. Lillee and Gabbee will take a step and sniff and this is not just a quick sniff. This sniff is a “bury the nose deeply for a long time” sniff. Each step is a “bury the nose deeply” step. As a consequence I spend a long time standing and breathing. The area is worthing breathing deeply because it is filled with all the wonderful “sniffs” of wildflowers.

The change over the last two mornings has been a visitor whom I’ve seen at a distance in the trees but never like this. Yesterday morning this iridescent visitor flew by and then came back and hovered looking straight at me. The beat of the wings was so rapid that the wings seemed to be still and the long pin-like bill used for gathering precious nectar pointing straight at me. It was almost eerie the way time seemed to stop and everything went still. It was like being captured momentarily in a bubble. The hummingbird appeared again the next day but this time it was to swoop across my path drawing attention to its beautiful coloring in the early morning sun.

I have learned to pay attention to small things like this. I believe that the Divine sends us messages in a variety of ways and nature is not the least among those methods of communication. After all, it was a burning bush through which Moses heard “I Am” so I’m convinced that nature is a significant method of Divine communication. When I got home, I opened my book of bird wisdom and checked out hummingbirds. This is what learned about hummingbird wisdom.

Hummingbirds see unusually well particularly in color. They can see patterns that are invisible to human eyes. They are also a high energy bird and need to eat almost constantly to stay alive. They draw their life and energy from the nectar of flowers. A hummingbird hovering around a person invites that person to see deeply, to look beyond the surface and search for patterns that are difficult to see. A hummingbird experience suggests being aware of energy levels. The invitation from the hummingbird is to spend time in nature or enjoying nature’s bounty in the forms of fresh fruit.

In the past, I would have been content to admire and be in awe of the hummingbird moment but I have come to believe that there is more to these experiences than I originally thought. To be honest, it is a little difficult to write about because of wondering what the reader of this might think of me. To see a hummingbird as a divine method of communication is not part of my current culture. I can’t even say that I know exactly what the hummingbird may have been trying to communicate to me. This is what I do know. Because of my dogs I stopped and it was in that moment of stopping that something extraordinary happened. I searched for meaning in that extraordinary moment. I sought to look deeply and to search for patterns that were not part of my everyday experience. Since then I have become more aware and have taken more time to hover in nature allowing the beauty to surround me and to quiet me and perhaps that is all that I am being asked to do: stop, hover and sip deeply from nature’s bounty.

The air is different

The air is different in the evening. I know this from my twice daily walks with the dogs. The air at 5:30 am is very different from the air at 7:00 at night.

That air that I breathe in during the evening walks is heavy and full. It is filled with layers of scents like a spice rack. The fragrance from the flowers and plants that has been released in the heat of the day mingles with the whiffs of kitchens and grills: the lavender and the pine with the steaks and stews. It is like an incense that slightly tickles the nose.

In the evening it feels as if the air is laden with the thoughts and feelings experienced by those who unconsciously inhale and then exhale into the world the joys, the worries, the introspections, the anxieties, the gladness, and the thousand other feelings that are felt during the day. It is saturated with coffee shop conversations and quiet meditations, with heated discussions and loving interludes, with sirens and children’s laughter punctuated with the sounds of the cicadas and the horns of cars.

The early morning air is empty. It has had time during the night to release the absorptions of the day. All the sounds, feelings, thoughts and activities of the day have dissipated leaving behind a bareness that allows the first sounds to filter in without distraction. The fragrance of the flowers is more sharp and poignant at 5:30 am. The first bird songs have more clarity when they aren’t mixed with the cacophony of cars and people. The early morning bees stand out in that emptiness.

The sun is not yet up in the August sky at 5:30 am as it is in June so there is still a milky, blurred quality to the day. Everything waits in suspension for the first sounds, first thoughts, first movements. The rabbits sit in the openness enjoying their breakfast of grass watered with the early dew. The birds start their first conversations from tree to tree and once again the layering begins.

Mia the yogi master

Mia is the Giant Schnauzer that has moved in on the other side of the circle. She is a deep gorgeous black. She walks with a gentle knowing. It is not a Doberman or German Shepherd walk that carries with it a certain authority. It is not a Siberian Husky walk which has a distinct focus with the eyes gazing steadily forward. And it is not a defensive walk for which her breed is known. Instead, Mia places her paws on the road with a gentleness and a sureness that states that she knows exactly her place in the world and that she is content being in that place.

My dogs react to that knowing. They don’t start barking at her as is their wont with other big dogs. It is a general rule of thumb that small dogs feel the necessity to bark at big dogs. What they don’t have in size, small dogs make up for in sound. But with Mia it is different. They approach Mia with the same gentleness that she exudes. Despite the significant difference in sizes, they quietly extend to each other the usual doggie courtesies. Chit chat is exchanged between myself and Mia’s owner while the dogs are involved in their communication and then everyone moves on. It is an astonishing encounter. If it had happened only the one time, then it could perhaps be written off as odd but it has happened three times now.

In our small neighborhood circle I know the people more by the dogs they own than by the owners themselves. I suppose that makes quite a statement about me but that fact is that when I’m walking my dogs, it is good to know where there are potential pitfalls. Next door to my house is Rocky, a playful Doberman mix with whom my dogs love to exchange greetings through the fence. At the first curve in the circle is the Mini Schnauzer who has the same small dog penchant that my dogs have. Generally he is out in his front yard around 7 in the morning so that’s not a good time to go by his house unless I want to intentionally wake the neighbors. Next door to the Mini Schnauzer is an elderly Yorkie and a Westie who usually get their walk around 6:30 in the morning. By unspoken agreement their owner and myself go different ways. Four small dogs trying to prove they’re big at 6:30 am is just not something a small neighborhood could get excited about. If by chance, we do see each other, one of us politely waits in the distance until an alternate route can be found by one of us. Down the street from them is the Welsh terrier; a pretty dog that frequently looks bewildered by my dogs’ response to her. Mia lives across from the Welsh. The neighborhood also includes a German Shepherd and two Pomeranians. It is nice mix of big and small and it’s nice that so many of the people in the circle love dogs.

Gabbee, Lillee, and I not only take the walk around the circle but we frequently take a mile walk that takes us through difference neighborhoods. We regularly meet a variety of dogs most of whom get the usual small dog bark. However, every time we come upon Mia it is with stillness and silence. The general perception of Mia would be one of a giant guard dog intent on defending her property. However, as she gallops across the yard to greet my dogs, no one, least of all my dogs feel fear. Mia doesn’t bark. She simply comes to a stop and waits. My dogs don’t bark. They simply stand and sniff. I simply stand in wonderment. It leaves me wondering if there is such as thing as a centeredness in dogs, the kind that we search for as humans.

Does Mia come by that naturally? Is her own environment that peace filled that she carries it out into the world? What is it in Mia that allows this to happen? Why are my dogs so different around her? There is one thing that is clear to me, in the midst of this wonderment. Mia is a yogi master and I await my opportunity to sit at her paws and learn.