Miracle. All of It.

~ Live & Learn

It’s 5:52 a.m., yesterday morning.

I’m done with The Cove Park portion of my 5 mile walk, and it’s the last 7/10s of a mile in the home stretch. On asphalt. Through the side streets. Heading home.

I’m tired. I’m dragging. And my head has shifted to Work.

I slip the cap on the lens while I’m walking (because one cannot waste precious minutes).  I tuck the camera into the sling, zip up the bag, and swing it over my shoulder. I accelerate my pace. And practice my breathing as instructed by James Nestor. (Because he’s so deep into my consciousness, I can’t take 10 breaths without thinking about his instruction.)

I round the corner onto Anthony Lane and hear a rustle.

And there they are. The two of them. Staring at me.

I freeze.

They freeze.

Please. Please don’t move. I slide my sling from back to front, and start unzipping the bag. I don’t take my eyes off them.

Please. Please don’t move. I don’t know anything about shutter speed. Continuous bursts. Or whatever-the-Hell-else I need to catch you in motion.

I grab the camera. My hands shake, the lens hood flies off and hits the ground. The lens cap follows and rolls a foot or two on the shoulder. My God Man. Get a Grip. You’re going to blow this.

Jack turns to his brother: “Is this amateur hour?  Can you believe this guy?”  “No sh*t. I’m getting tired of posing here.”

I raise the camera.

I see a thin film through the view finder. OMG, the humidity is fogging up the lens.

It clears.

And then comes the camera shake. I tuck my elbows in tight to my body. My breaths are short and quick, hot little puffs.

I move my index finger to the shutter, ever so gently.

I zoom in on my targets.

Now!

And Bam! I got it!  And another. And another. And another. And another.

They turn to walk to the woods.

I watch them disappear.

Wow, so Beautiful.  Miracle, all of it.

Notes:

  • Photos: Mine! A Miracle! July 27 2020.
  • Post Inspired by Kiki. She told me that if I didn’t share this story, she would send the Dale and Sawsan posse after me. So here it is.
  • Post title Inspired by Albert Einstein’s quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

119 thoughts on “Miracle. All of It.”

    2. Karen, nature IS kind – but we shouldn’t push it too far…. I came back from a few days at my unsold house in F, they hadn’t had any rain the past 6 weeks and temps are soaring easily to 35C – nobody was watering anything at all, and yet, and yet, amongst the burnt and brown ‘prairie’ I had one blooming rose as if there was no tomorrow and a few other flowers too. Some shrubs were still (just) alive and I swear that after my very long and copious watering on Friday night, there was a huge band of birds singing in the very early Saturday morning hours praising the human who rendered the soil softer, allowing them to harvest some worms and beetles…. It’s in these moments I feel incredibly privileged to be part of nature as a constant.

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          1. And guess how she recovers DK? By us ‘SITTING’ on the land, acknowledging and nurturing her! 🦉Just ask the Indigenous people, that’s who teach me. 🙏🏻

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  2. You did it!!! Thank you so much; this is so much better than just goggling at the pics on Ig….. and you telling the story of ‘HOW TO CATCH A MONKEY’ IS SO VERY FUNNY, SO RELATABLE AND TRUE FOR MOST OF US…..
    SO, YOU DO NEED TO GO BACK TO THE OFFICE, IN THE END? OR WAS YESTERDAY’S GIFT THAT JUST THAT, A GIF(T)?
    Sorry for the all caps; I’m doing this on the iPad where I don’t see my writing and only by going back to your post I saw my error. Have a stunningly beautiful, quiet, peaceful working day, Dave and THANKS ONCE MORE. They are incredibly beautiful, majestic and deep thinkers…. 😉

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  3. And I just NOW see the ‘kind dedication’. I AM used to people being afraid of my wrath…. 😉 😉 😉 But you’re right, don’t mess with the girl band SD and co….

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      2. D and S: Funny that we need to underline our quiet, considerate behaviour all the time, ain’t it? 😉 I love the banter, always good hearted and with kindness, wishing our friend but the best time and advice from our bottomless source of wisdom….

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    1. Sawsan, are you EVER sleeping or are you having a contract with Dave NOT to sleep after 4am?! Sending a coffee to you and an espresso numero due to me…. 🙂

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        1. Then I just wonder WHEN you sleep then; if I can get 6hrs I’m considering myself lucky…. but I have crisis time every afternoon, now in the heat of the summer….
          But with such a wealth of things to do, to read, to admire, I’m not giving in 😉

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          9. What holiday? Even with i was off the grid for Ramadan I still worked. This is daddy’s girl. We work. Work is highest form of worship. That’s what he did, and still does!

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  5. and they were just standing there, speaking in low deerchat to each other, trying to humor you and let you get the picture, so you could move along with your day, like that one aunt who asks you to pose in your uncomfortable sunday suit so she can get the shot. ). letting you see and feel a tiny sliver of what they feel each and every day. glad to read how it moved you and it’s clear you had an abundance of gratitude to them for allowing you in for a minute.

    (p.s. – and don’t mess with the posse)

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  7. Nice shots, DK! You captured their majesty so beautifully. We have a doe and twin fawns here in the neighborhood that I would love to capture on film, but alas, they are quicker than I am. Keep these photo sojourns coming! 😊

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  9. YAY! I was right there with you, Dave, having had so many of those moments with my camera – knowing the moment can (and will) change in half a heartbeat and wishing I knew my camera settings better. Well captured, my friend! My heart leapt along with yours!

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  12. Please thank Kiki for us!

    Glad the critters were there for you. We have deer in our woods and they are great fans of our apple trees. They will be happily munching and then they know when we see them. We are several hundred feet away, in the house, haven’t said a word and their heads come up and look right at us. Next time you see the guys, think to them how great they look. They will calmly stick around.

    Happy seeing.

    >

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  13. Just lovely 🙂 You must be so proud of that capture.

    Dare I say that when we were in total lockdown, many creatures that usually keep their distance from all our noise and pollution ventured forth into the open. I think nature is resilient and likely to find novel ways of fighting back. Maybe it is at the moment, doing just that with the pandemic. Who knows? See James Lovelock, the English scientist (now aged 101) who came up with the Gaia hypothesis, suggests that the planet is self-regulating and might one day treat humanity as parasites and get rid of them accordingly.

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  15. Lovely reflection, David. Thank you. As I’m sure you know, there’s an old discussion of whether aesthetics or ethics is prior to the other. Increasingly, I think aesthetics (beauty) trumps ethics and morality. Re-awakening our sense of beauty in moments like this and in every sunrise and sunset, a cardinal, robin, Bristlecone Pine, Blue Spruce, and the flowers in the crannied wall is key to transformation from an market-driven ethic/morality to a child’s sense of wonder at the cliff of species elimination. Nature will abide…with or without us. If a planet is green and beautiful but there is no one to see it, is it still beautiful?

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  17. Clicking the shutter … when, why, how, where…wheeeeeee
    it’s part of the brilliance, part of the miracle. An act of faith, really. It’s a practice, a service, ritual perhaps? They knew, they didn’t know. You conjured a truth, in pix and words. You did that…or were you just witness? The great recorder, scribe perhaps? We make things.
    We believe things…………………… this can lead to madness.
    But humility — yours and mine — might save us both.
    __

    Wildlife laughs silently at the scramble of the human being, caught in his/her/their sense of wonder…and self-consciousness. How dare we presume? It’s what we do.

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  19. So glad the deer were obliging. I know that frustration and panic of getting the camera ready before the subject takes off. You have to be ready for action every second. It’s guaranteed that the minute you put the camera away you’ll miss something good. You were lucky!!! Nice pics!

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  22. I don’t know what I like better – the pictures or the story of how you got them. I can feel you shaking as you get ready for the shot. That was nice of Jack and his brother to stick around long enough for you to take their picture 🙂

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  23. It is not just luck, David. You might have missed seeing them completely, so minded were you on work. They truly do look like they are waiting for you to get your shit together. Love the text to go with the lovely captures.
    Have you been feeling a difference inside of you, since you started your fantastic morning ritual? Do you feel more centred?
    And I dunno what is up with Kiki, thinking Sawsan or I would do anything 😉

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  25. Thank you Kiki! I would have been very sorry not to have seen these pictures. David, do you know how unusual it is see one buck much less two? The images are beautiful.
    And I know, this was more than luck!

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  26. Love the story and the photos. You need an African safari to drum in that you never know what is around the next turn. I’m happy you are learning The Art of Seeing. Looking forward to more photos.

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  27. Beautiful post! So in the moment. I can totally feel your emotions through your description. Awesome the deer were intrigued by your “panic” and chose to stick around. I am always extremely grateful when I encounter animals and even more so if they allow me to take their photo 🙂

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  28. Let’s make this post the one with the most comments!!!!
    That way, many more get to see these incredible photos and Dave can get another 1000 new followers to chase him to distraction with their commenting…. 😉

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  30. 8 point bucks? Wow! Wow! In 24 years of hunting in Western PA, i never saw, not even one 8-point buck. I either sat there or “drove” for 4-5 hours, froze my a.. and Nothing! Rien! Niente! Nada! ZIp! The deer were safe with me!

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      1. They are beauts. Great venison, ribs, and sausage meat when mixed with pork. All low cholesterol, too. And whatever meat you don’t need, low income senior homes take the meat. The worst part is “field dressing”. Yuch! Nasty process

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