Only 20 Minutes

Only 20 minutes:

the goal is early light, as close to sun’s arrival to the new day as possible, getting those first rays for the benefit of mind and body, a chemical reaction happening in the brain that leads all the way to evening and a preparation for a sound and peaceful slumber. It’s more than that too, it’s for the soul, reconnecting my spirit to the land by footsteps taken, and my breath taking part in a giving exchange of air to breathe and the exhalation of carbon dioxide for my neighborhood plants and trees to thrive. My walk is only 20 minutes, perhaps a bit longer if I’m carried away by the beauty of the morning, brief by my once training standards when I walk for miles at a stretch.

but my goal is different now…

for this walk at least.

really though, there isn’t a goal, it’s just to greet the morning, getting in that first light and to find out what nature will offer me each morning. On any morning I am apt to be surprised, my walk is only 20 minutes but it’s filled with wildlife and the season’s deep shade of green right now. It’s my favorite time of year, fast approaching solstice, extended daylight and opportunity to witness the variety of life in the immediate my surroundings.

I live close to a small pond, teeming with birds, with the most common sighting of crows and robins, catbirds often heard…