Flight, in Stillness and in Motion

"For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame"

~ W.B. Yeats

It is windy today.  It has been windy, lately.  It comes and it goes and is noticeable.

In the midst of a rather reflective afternoon, I had taken off my glasses, reflecting.  And then even without glasses, I saw them, outside my window.  I put my glasses on quickly and thought I might capture them.  They had flown in, all together, and landed.

And then as quickly as they arrived, with another gust of the wind, they took flight!  All together.

Raking at Dusk

"I have since only very rarely seen the tree with the lights in it. The vision comes and goes, mostly goes, but I live for it..." ~ Annie Dillard

Raking at dusk, somehow a brilliant white feather appeared under the leaves, reminiscent of eagles and angels.  The flash of the camera captured it, seemingly all by itself.  I rarely use the flash.

It was cold.  It was windy.  Rain was attempting to begin.  It reminded me of Illinois in November.

It was perfect. 

My Basement Window

"May it be a light to you in dark places..." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

In the wonderful place where I'm now living, I spend a lot of time working on my laptop in the family room in the basement.  In Oregon, especially as we enter into November, most people would not choose to be working in a basement.  Generally basements here (if they exist at all due to the water table) would not typically be considered "bright places".

Yet my basement is.

Do we notice the little miracles all around us each day?  Many people think the Pacific Northwest is dark in the winter.  It is very true that those us of who have lived here for a while recall many a week of all cloudy days.  Last winter in particular was historically rainy, even for here!

I moved from a place that had floor to ceiling windows, exceptionally bright, as well as multiple skylights.  I had lived there many years.  I have often said that the Pacific Northwest is not actually a place where one becomes familiar with the darkness - it's a place where one becomes familiar with the Light.  I had never heard the term "sunbreak" until I first moved to Oregon, a sudden break in the clouds.

I'd say what I'm experiencing now, in my new basement, is more like a "sun flash". 

Light comes to us where we are, when we choose to see it, when we accept how it arrives.  And then perhaps we glimpse the purposes of the darkness.