Sunrise

Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.

Henry David Thoreau

gorgonian branches reaching for sunlight

the sun rises dripping from the ocean

a stranded man-o-war dressed in blue and gold

humans interact with the elements in beautiful and curious ways (man standing on a stack of beach loungers, flying a drone)

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread.

John Muir

Rising before dawn

I hear morning calling me-

with a seagull’s voice.

One thing I really love about being in Miami is going down to the ocean to watch the sun rise every day. This week the sky has been spectacular. I hesitate to share sunrise photos sometimes, because someone once told me sunrise/sunset photos are cliches. So - here’s to celebrating a beautiful cliche. Hope you can get out to see one in person wherever you are.

Thank you so much for being here. See you next week!

A great egret spreads his wings in the park. I wonder if he knows how beautiful he is. Time to fly.

Seagulls at Sunrise - a pictorial haiku

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.

Richard Bach

Two lonely seagulls

landing at sunrise, stand, gazing-

and find - each other.

In the end there is no desire so deep as the simple desire for companionship.

Graham Greene

I saw one seagull standing alone first and took out my camera, liking the way the sun was illuminating his feathers. Then another one approached and began grooming itself. They both lifted their heads, turned in the same direction, and walked off together. It was an unexpectedly sweet moment, only caught because my camera was in continuous shooting mode. I use that a lot when I’m trying to capture animals, because unexpected things do happen, and I would hate to miss it just because I’m not fast enough to take the next few shots manually. Even if you aren’t taking a picture, it can be fun to watch individual animals for more than just a moment. Sometimes they do surprising things.

I have decided to continue blogging regularly - some may be a little shorter, but I really enjoy connecting with you this way, so I’m sticking with it. Thank you so much for being here. I will see you next week!

Sounds of Silence

Silence is a sounding thing, to one who listens hungrily.

Gwendolyn B. Bennett

January 25, 2023 - Pigeon watches the seagull fly away

Listening Practice

Listen to the pigeons on the pier-

just cooing, you might say,

except for a rumbling bass note

deep in their bellies

following it

solemnly rising at the end,

into a plea.

Listen as they murmur together,

on the rocks of the pier-

turning toward the sun

where the seagulls fly.

January 25, 2023 - One step

January 26, 2023 - Seagull bathing in sunlight

January 26, 2023-South Pointe, Miami Beach

how do i capture the sound

of the ocean on a calm day,

when waves lightly kiss the sand

and the white foam lingers there -

slowly sinking in

beneath the seagull’s feet?

At the beginning of the year, I wrote about a few themes I wanted to focus on this year (Savoring Transition). Listening was one of them. Not long afterward, my friend Lisa sent me a great article called Sound Tracking by Rob Walker, with a listening practice to try; which I did nearly every day this week; focusing my attention on and trying to identify the sounds I heard around me.

When I wanted to write about what I heard, I looked up words for sounds (like the pigeons’ “coo”) and realized how inadequate language can be to describe the sounds we hear. Too many of the words are the same for completely different sounds. Is that because we don’t listen, or because the sounds are too complicated to be captured in a word?

January 26, 2023 - Sargassum sunrise

January 26, 2023

Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them. A.A. Milne

These weeds, sargassum, float on the water and are left behind by when the tide moves out. They pile up on the beach this time of year, until the tractors come by and bury them under the sand. Most people think they are a nuisance; but today, in the sun, this little one was beautiful.

January 27, 2023 - Fish Crow holding court

January 27, 2023 - A fish crow looked like he was holding court over the seagulls on the sand today when I walked by. It is amazing how many different varieties of gulls there are here. From a distance you might think they’re all the same; but even in just the small sample in this picture; you can see that they are not.

January 30, 2023 - Larus Gull

January 30, 2023 - This seagull caught my eye because of its varied feathers. I believe it’s a Laurus Gull, possibly a banded-beak laurus. I didn’t realize how striking its eyes were until I got home from my walk.

January 31, 2023 - Boat-tailed grackles gathered to sing with a wren listening.

January 31 2023. The grackles were singing their hearts out on this sign overlooking the boating channel in Miami Beach. The other bird (maybe a wren) flew in afterward. He looked like he was listening.

As I walked along the marina, I got lucky and saw the green heron below, just calmly sitting on the rocks. - probably waiting for a fish to swim by? He didn’t seem to mind me stopping.

January 31, 2023 - Green Heron Fishing from Marina

January 28, 2023 - Another iguana stopped by,

January 28-January 29, 2023.

Last week, I wrote about the iguanas that have been sleeping in the trees next to my apartment. I couldn’t resist taking a few more pictures, because two more showed up this week. One of them was HUGE. Since I took these pictures all but one has left the trees. I think they like these trees because they’re sheltered from the wind but still in a high and sunny location. Now that the winds are not as strong; they’ve moved on.

January 28, 2023 - Make that two.

January 29, 2023. A Big Iguana of a different color appeared for a few hours today.

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January 29, 2023 - This is the same little iguana from yesterday; his pose and his smile almost human.

January 26, 2023 - Gently rolling surf at sunrise.

Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.

A. A. Milne

A final moment of zen. I love the quote from A..A. Milne because it feels like daydreaming, and that’s what you should do sometimes when you’re walking along the water, or even just staring out your window. I hope you get a chance to try it this week. Thanks for joining me here!