August Gets a Bad Wrap
I used to fall into the trap that I think many Midwesterners fall into, and that is thinking that August is hot and miserable.
Well actually on average July is generally the hottest month of the year in Ohio.
As we enter into the last week of the month there is a little coolness in the air this morning providing just a hint of anticipation for the chilling nights of September.
It is a neat time of year, everything that makes seeds have made them, insects are buzzing, the mornings are cool. It's sweet with the decadent ripeness of the summer.
I think August gets a bad wrap because we are ready for a change.
I suppose I am looking forward to the fall.
As a matter of fact Robin and Linda Williams’ tune October Light off of their Deeper Waters CD just cycled up on itunes.
This is a great song and really captures that reflective yet anxious feel associated with the change of the season.
It might just be me but it seems there is a great deal of anxiety in the air. Unemplyment, heathcare, teh economy, political unrest......
And for me I am still juggling the respocibilities of two postions at work, and that is wearing.
So much uncertainty makes it easy to flirt with a major emotional funk.
George Orwell’s horse in Animal Farm just worked harder.
I try not to do that because most of the time I work pretty hard anyway. I tend to go the opposite direction and get sedentary.
Of course I still do what I have to do, I.E. work and those sort of essential things but I stop doing the elective things that keep me balanced and engaged.
They just become one more thing to do, and just one more thing to do means yet more on the agenda and yada yada.
So while I fixing my coffee yesterday in the morning I had some avian visitors who were coming to check on me.
Many native cultures believe that we as individuals have certain animals associated with us and we may or may not recognize this association.
Well for whatever reason I have had over the years a number of encounters with robins that have if nothing else been engaging.
Yesterday was one of those moments.
As August starts winding down many birds start flocking up in preparation for their southern journey, and as you would suspect the majority of these birds are first year young.
While I was making my coffee, a group of three juvenile robins decided that they wanted to check out the grumpy old man on the other side of the window and gradually moved closer and closer until they formed semi circle around the window all watching me watch them.
If nothing more it was a pleasant way to start the day but for some reason this simple little encounter somehow motivated me to get up get going.
Sometime it is the simplest things that can change a perspective.
these little things are always there it is just a question of looking for and seeing them.
Or in my situations with the robins, recognizing that they were seeing me.