.....kickoff

Yogis,
Every month brings its own unique gifts, and everyone has months they favor. Although I like them all, June is pretty incredible.

Ahhhh June. How to even begin….. I’ll start at the beginning when my alarm goes off quite early. It is light out! That only happens in a short window each year. I walk Phoebe in the light. I run in the light. And with early morning being my favorite time of day, it’s a bonus!

I meander through the garden. All my truly heavy lifting is complete. Seeds sown, plants in the ground and mulch laid. Everyone looking healthy and happy and growing inches as I sleep. The zinnias I started indoors are now budding, showing off what color flowers I grew from last year’s saved seeds. It’s always a surprise. Pumpkin plants sprout from where I buried last year’s small pumpkins in fallen leaves.

The fox walks by while the hummingbird visits the feeder. A butterfly arrives.

I look at our coat rack this weekend and realize that I can FINALLY put away the jackets. They suddenly look so out of place. I walk out the door without thinking now, knowing my knees and arms can be free.

It’s June when I begin filling my water bottle with mint and lemon (Nana water they call it). I have my first corn on the cob, always making extra so I can scrape off kernels to use in bean salads. Eating cherries.

School is ending. Shrieks of children’s outdoor birthday parties and kids riding bikes fill the air. We begin to plan for our first beach vacation by washing beach chairs and umbrellas. My skin already sun kissed from time spent in the garden. The sun is the star of June’s show.  

June acts as the kickoff for summer. Highlighting what lies ahead.

Thunderstorms, bare feet, bats, sitting on the deck and my favorite – the summer solstice.  

As I lie down to sleep at the end of the day there is still light in the sky. I roll to my side and witness the first of the June lightening bug shows.

Gushingly grateful for June,
SARAH

....another level

Yogis,
It begins early. I open an eye and see 5:03 am. The sky only beginning to lighten. Through the open window I hear it loud and clear.

A robin has landed in a tree branch and is singing her heart out. Nonstop for the next fifteen minutes. Is it possible for something to be both joyful and an annoyance? That is how it felt. I drift back to sleep.

How did I know it was a robin? A few years ago I wouldn’t. I would have thought there is a bird. That was before I set the intention to learn bird songs.

I knew the obvious of course. The owl. The crow and the seagull. The mourning dove. Yet when I got to most others it all sounded like pleasant but indistinguishable noise in the air. There, but without a connection.

I began looking for the bird when a sound caught my ear. Once I could see it and watch their mouth create the song, I had a better chance of remembering. Then I heard of Merlin.

A free app that listens to identify bird noises. Suddenly I could choose to learn anytime and anywhere, even when the bird was out of sight. But it was still a process to be aware enough to notice ….. turn on the app…..get an id and try to find a place in my brain to store it.

Slowly (very slowly) though, a shift started. I think it was the blue bird who helped. Every now and then I would be gardening and think ‘a bluebird is nearby.’ A recognition arising without effort. Then it was the robin. Later, the cardinal.

I was always amazed by people who stop and say, ‘do you hear the woodpecker?’  I thought what they did was impossible, but soon the impossible began to manifest.

I still have a long way to go but it’s as if a whole new level of life is revealing itself. The sounds above have thrown down a cable on which to connect. I imagine it similar to becoming fluent in another language.

I am not sure I am explaining it well, but I am again reminded of the infinite layers open to a human existence.

This morning it was the cardinal,
SARAH