Wednesday, September 8, 2010

down in the dinosaur dump

So....nearly half a year since my last blog. We have settled nicely in Dinosaur-capital-of-Canada, in our new home (Well--we are still surrounded by towers of boxes, though. How could we possibly have accumulated so much?). We finally made the move here at the end of June. Our house in our City-of-1.2million hasn't sold yet, and it continues to be a concern. Life here is amazing. I wonder why everyone doesn't move to a little town? City-of-1.2million (though I've heard that it has diminished somewhat) has news headings about local shootings and torture victims. A recent front page report here was a two car pile-up to which EMS and police were sent, but it was happily reported that no one was seriously injured.

Sweetie-pie-love-of-my-life and I pruned our hedge. The top reached the eaves of our house. We felt we lived in a shrub box. Four feet (1.1m) less later, we filled the truck and headed to the dump to dispose of the branches.
Well....
Who would have expected that we would be overwhelmed with a sight of incredible beauty at the local dump yard? I had never seen such a thing! As we drove in, we passed an area of level ground FULL of hundreds of gulls squished together, all facing the same direction, as if waiting for further instruction from their master. Then we rounded a mound to the area we could dump. At the end of this lane was the wall of dirt and trash to which we headed. Gulls! Hundreds! No...a thousand or more! All were flying in a circle over the lane. As we neared the back dirt wall, hundreds of gulls flew off the wall, right over our truck, only about 4-5 feet (1.5 m) overhead.
It was stunning. All these birds flying right over us, so close, so in unison with each other. It was magic to behold. Oh, where is a camera when you need one?
I was moved by this gift of unexpected beauty in a place where most would not think to look. Indeed, next to us a mother hollered at her daughter to help unload the trash so they could hurry out.
Both of us were present at this same event, yet she was totally oblivious to the wonder that circled above us both.
I don't ever want to become so complacent or jaded or even just too busy that I fail to see the wonder and majesty that is all around us every day in even the littlest things.

P.S. The above photo was taken at a later date. I hoped for a repeat scene, but the gulls just weren't there in the same numbers. This picture only gives a taste.

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