old logs and North Korea

An old log, probably once a large limb from a nearby willow, came floating down the lake during an early winter storm. It nestled itself into the mud right below the tree house amongst the lily pads and cattails. At first my inclination was to push it back out into the open water and have it ride the north wind further down the lake. I even went out in my kayak and prodded it several times with my paddle to see how easily it could be moved. It did move. I could have sent it on its way, but instead I decided to leave it there and see what would happen.

The winter progressed. The ice came and went and by spring the log had settled a more into its new home. It is now partially submerged near its center and either end of has certain characteristics that have earned it the title "alligator log". It really does look like an alligator! It would be great for a bit of fun once in awhile, if only alligators were native to Connecticut.

Well this week the alligator log has lots of visitors as it seems to have become a favorite hangout for painted turtles, mud turtles and small snapping turtles. Occasionally there is some gesturing, snipping and renegotiating for space, but overall they all seem to tolerate eat other just so they can share a great basking location. I took this all in while hearing the latest on nuclear missiles, nuclear bomb testings and border disputes on NPR.

One log, one world, one sun. I think that even turtles are smarter than people.

memorial day

For those of you who may never actually visit the tree house, it is located about 30 feet above the edge of a small lake. Today the sun rose over a calm lake and as I often do on mornings such as these, I would see the sun, a hawk and several smaller songbirds first on the lake's surface. You see the trees that surround the tree house often block what is going on in the sky and therefore the lake's surface becomes my window to the sky. For me on calm mornings, that means looking to the water to see what is happening in the sky. If I only looked to the sky, I would miss much of what is happening up there in the heavens. It is only by turning my eyes away from the sky that I see what is happening there.

into the atmosphere

for a moment
I was the song
of an oriole

sunrise musings

Yesterday my sleep was broken by the brilliance of the rising sun. This may not seem to be an extraordinary event, but this had not occurred for several months. As I greeted, what would prove to be a glorious day, I realized that the sun was able to shine upon my face that day due to the positioning of the earth relative to the sun.

This positioning is ever changing and I am only greeted by the sun in this manner for a few weeks a year. As I thought about the everchanging positioning of these two celestial bodies, I began to think of the overall positioning of planets in our solar system, which led to thinking of our solar system in relation to other solar systems and galaxies to galaxies and the meaning of infinity.

Could there really be 1000 other planets like ours out there as some folks have speculated?

The charged energies of the universe seemed to pulse through my barefeet, which seemed to cling to very fragile earth.

painted turtles

Mid-May has signaled the beginning of turtle season here at the tree house.

Baby painted turtles were found making their way towards the lake earlier this week. I gave a helping hand to two of them, only time will tell if they can survive all the obstacles put in front of them.

Each one of us that has the pleasure of having turtles visit our properties can help by providing them with a pesticide-free environment and by limiting our input of fertilizers into the nearby aquatic environments.

Hopefully, soon the snappers and mud turtles will follow. Keep an eye out for turtle crossings!