I did something today that I almost never do: nothing.
It is nigh impossible for me to sit and do nothing but that is pretty much what I did today. It was… nice.
I pulled up a lawn chair, poured myself a tall glass of lemonade and later one of sun tea, set my camera by my side “in case” and then I leaned back and enjoyed…nothing.
I started the day with a mile and half walk with Harvey before it heated up. He was beyond excited: we have not walked nearly as often this summer as we did last summer. I blame the spectre of grief: I had no energy. But sometime in the last couple of weeks, that process has reached a turning point and I feel energy seeping back into my soul and spirit. Of course, my energy surge also coincided with the rise in mercury here in the Pacific Northwest: September rolled in with a heat wave worthy of late July and early August. We’ve had glorious long days of sunshine and temperatures that have touched the nineties (farenheit).
Glorious summer.
So I wrote in my journal and listened to the day’s sounds. We live on the flight path from southern airports to PDX and there are two small airports nearby: Mulino and one over by the golf course off of S. Beavercreek Road in Oregon City. Lots of small airplanes buzz our house in their effort to catch some height. Float planes come off of the Willamette River below and circle overhead as they seek altitude. And commercial airliners drop altitude overhead as they near Portland International Airport.
September 11, 2011: ten years after. It was wonderful to listen to airplanes drone overhead: bi-planes, float planes, two-props, single props, MD-8o’s, 727’s. Ten years ago, air traffic came to a screeching halt for a full 14 days. I thought if any tribute was fitting, it was this: the freedom to fly.
Speaking of the freedom to fly, the reason I kept my camera handy was the proximity of the hummingbird feeders to the chair I was lounging in.
While I filled in my journal, at least three different hummers attended the one feeder in the shade. I identified one as the Broad-tailed and one I think was an Anna’s. One was a female hummingbird and beyond my ability to identify.
I shot all my photos with my 18-55mm lens so they are all grainy. I have been unable to set my Canon to a faster speed (I’ve followed the instructions in the manual but it keeps defaulting back to 125ASA which defeats the purpose of trying to stop motion). I plan on upgrading the Canon early next year with one that comes with a good zoom lens and the manual mode isn’t broken on. I can take much better photos on manual.
Isn’t it a beautiful thing to possess the freedom to fly? I know the analogy between hummingbirds and 9/11/2001 is a stretch but it is all I have.
Jaci Dawn 
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