RESTING BY A RIVER

While a heat wave rolled over our valley this past week we found relief and rest at our favourite river, the Kettle. As the sun climbed high in the sky radiating with burning intensity, we found shade along the river's edge and refreshment swimming in it's cool, clear, rippling flow.

The campground so familiar, and yet it became full of wonder as I experienced moments in nature that were reminders of the intricate complexity and beauty of creation.

• perching on a rock in the river to absorb the serenity of sunrise.
• watching the fat ground squirrels standing upright, bending shafts of grass and reeling them in with tiny claws to feast on the feathered seed heads.
• noting the beginning of the annual season of harvesting pine cone seeds. Frisky, bushy tailed squirrels staking their territory with endless trips up the trunks of tall pines, tossing down green cones attached to tufts of needles and then a speedy trip down, head first, nipping the cone from it's tether and racing to hide it in a secret bunker. 
• coming upon a deer and staring at each other in silence.
• awed by the brilliant beauty of a thistle blossom 
• the surprise of flitting bats at twilight 
• gazing at the night lights in the sky and debating if they were stationary stars or orbiting planets.

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. 

 ~Aaron Rose