AT THE CHURCH O THE PINES it is a gray and slightly gloomy August morn, but no one seems to mind. The bluejays shout their names and utter all manner of other vocalizations. Chickadees announce their name as well. (Evidently it is a thing in our church to arrive broadcasting your own name.) Goldfinches sing sweetly. Chipmunks chip and woodpeckers laugh, orioles chatter and across the river a pair of cranes trill to the sky. Our fledged eaglets squall from their nest tree and from other trees where they practice landing. A kingfisher rattles from down the shore. In other words a quiet, peaceful morning.
Meanwhile, Koda the Forest Kitten dashes around the churchyard, green eyes blazing, and rolls in the grass at my feet, clearly delighted with August mornings and the fact of just being himself. Which is a very good way to be. He has grown and become a Big Kitty since that first cold and miserable night when a tiny voice called softly to me from the woods. I answered, “Well who’s that?” And he came and rolled at my feet, just as he still does. Of course my heart was captured. Still is.
Wherever you are, we wish you a pleasant morn, remind you to say your name proudly, and to roll in the grass once in a while. Oh—and Good Sabbath!