when shade offers no rest from the heat and the breeze feels like hot breath on your skin, there is only one thing to do…water the flowers… and yourself so you don’t wither!
Welcome to The Bramlett Mountain Foothills Cafe and Red Dust Spa! It’s girls’ day out today. Five lovely Jennies stopped by strutting their beautifulness, and talking turkey…Oh, I sure would love to know what or who they’re talking about! It was quite a spectacle worthy of reality show notoriety.
The sights we see here in the foothills! It was a good day, and started out fabulous…glimmery even! Five glimmers to be exact!
Stay cool my friends! Much love, peace, and glimmers to you!
a turkey hen showing her chick where the feeders are at dawn……after breakfast they head to the dust pit for a spa treatment.,,
…learning how it’s done…and mimicking mom to perfection!
a sense of summer
I know the scent and sounds of dawn its first light’s symphony of song the earthy scent of dew drenched loam the sunlit sparkling fields of home
I know the feel of days at noon sun high and hot in skies of blue where shadows cast by towering trees shade earth while dancing in the breeze
I love the subtle shifts at dusk the rising mist that smells of musk horizons edge afire en rouge the setting sun sinks from our view
to sleep, to dream another night to read, to write by candlelight under the twinkling moon and stars connecting all, both near and far
my senses swoon in summertime I’m feeling green and that’s just fine!
~kat
Our landscaper asked us if we wanted him to fill in that exposed area of red clay and dust on the hill in our back yard area. And then he backtracked and said…never mind…I know you guys. It’s true. How could we sod over an area that gives the local turkeys (and us as their witnesses) so much happiness! I felt so fortunate to catch this dust bath ritual on film!
When people ask us how we could move away from the city and the convenience of shopping close by, to the woods, with horrible WiFi, prone to power outages, sitting on a hill with a long, steep, scary driveway…this is why.
All this happens just feet away from my window. I am so happy here. And so happy too to share this little bit of joy with you.
the air is thick and wet earth barely breathing beneath clouds that have fallen from a purple sky at dusk…I am overcome by the sweetness of flowers
~kat
We’re having a heat wave. Someone asked me what’s going on with this hot weather? And I replied…global warming? But it depends on who you ask! 😉
But, seriously, it is breathtakingly hot…and not in a good, beautiful way! Here in Virginia we have the added impact of humidity. This clammy combination makes for oppressive heat. When I took a photo of my front yard this evening, you could see the moisture hanging in the air. Everything is a bit muted and cloudy.
As much as I loathe conversations that devolve into an appraisal of the weather, here we are … or rather here I am boring you with the weather! There is certainly no glimmer to be found in a heatwave, but I do appreciate those of you still reading.
I knew magnetic poetry would serve this topic well! The glimmer, if you can call it that, is the reflection tool in PicsArt that helped me express this sticky wet sensation of humidity in Virginia in swampy picture form. The photo backdrop above is not real. The actual unaltered view is below. The magic of photo editing is amazing don’t you think?
This is the actual photo of my front yard…
I know the world is downright wacky right now. Sometimes creating my own glimmers are all I can do to preserve my sanity (though some might say I lost that long ago! 🤣)
Exercising my creative side gives me such joy, I consider it glimmer worthy! But if you’re not buying it, there is always Mr. Bean. He’s 100 % glimmer!
I’m rambling…let me just say much love, peace, and glimmers to you, wherever you can find them…and call it a day.
in the deep, I am forever (as) the dust settles a gentle prodding you cannot wish our souls away wrapped in grace and trust… insanity reigns
~kat
The natural world is not always rainbows and butterflies. But it is a just and fair cycle of life. Sometimes I get a front row seat like today.
The day started like it usually does. A perfect summer morning. A bit of a breeze, which is always fragrant this time of year. This morning I detected a hint of honeysuckle. One of my deer friends came by to say good morning, so a tossed her a bit of corn to munch on. I had some errands to run…before settling in for a little cat nap.
And that’s when I saw him, a magnificent red shouldered hawk perched a few yards away from the bird feeders. It was clear that the finches, cardinals, wrens, tits, cowbirds, and mourning doves had sent out the alarm…best to take shelter…danger from above. (Ironic, isn’t it, that humans in various locations are exercising a similar practice these very days…but for much more selfish, malevolent reasons…power, greed, and hate…but I digress…)
The hawk, though his shadow from above scattered the smaller critters here in the woods, he was not being hateful or vindictive, or even monstrous. He just had an empty belly to fill, and the felled tree trunk beneath him just happened to be home to several smaller rodent-types. Field mice and chipmunks, snakes and lizards. I know he has harvested birds on occasion…the splattering of feathers is a dead giveaway.
But today poultry was not on the menu. He was looking for a snack (I suspect this because there were 1/2 a dozen squirrels collecting seeds under the feeders, and he was not interested in the least.) I stepped away from my window seat for a few minutes and when I returned, he was gone, either bored from the blight of fresh options or he had found what he came for. To my delight all the birds had returned to the feeders, the squirrels were beneath catching the seeds that dropped to the ground. And I thought, what a lovely glimmer…life goes on.
But that was not the end of mother nature’s glimmer show today. Soon a turkey hen made her way to the feeders to pluck seeds from the ground…and to my surprise and delight she had a young chick I tow, showing it the ropes on this little acre in the foothills.
She even introduced it to the red clay hill nearby and showed it how to take a dust bath. Life does indeed go on!
said stone to the river, “how soft you feel as you wash over me… but after a long season in the deep, I am forever changed…my soul revealed.”
~kat
The weather forecast is calling for a week of rain, and flood warnings. There is a spot in my yard where grass refuses to grow. On hot, dry days it is a slope of powdery red clay; a favorite spot frequented by turkey hens who take in a dust bath and lounge in the sun. On rainy days it becomes a mudslide with the rain water transporting the top layers down to the grassy areas. It’s a slow erosion. Over the years more and more red clay is exposed with trenches where the water has streamed through.
Our lawn guy has asked us if we want him to try planting the area. But he knows us and our love of the wildlife we share this space with. Because the turkey hens love it so much, he knows we’re good to let nature landscape our yard. And the clover? Let’s not clear that either. The bunnies and deer love it too much.
Like rocks eroded over the years into smooth pebbles by rushing river streams, this place has softened and changed us too. Well manicured lawns are for urban spaces…but here in the foothills, I am content to let moss collect in the shade. Let the rain change the landscape on the hill. It feels like home.
So it is easier for you to find all the parts/chapters of my ongoing fiction series, I created a new page that lists all the links. You can check it out HERE!
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kat Myrman and Like Mercury Colliding with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
