Last week I started the essay about “Distraction”, and in one of the unique turns of events, was immediately distracted.
As Deng Ming-Dao writes,
“Today is the ideal moment between yesterday and tomorrow”
The observation seems so trite, yet if we could observe the simple, how much would we see.
more from Deng,
“Cat sits in the sun,
Dog sits on the grass,
Turtle sits on the rock,
Frog sits on the lily pad.”
Why aren’t people so smart? ”
He comments: When you next see a cat or a dog sitting still, and admire the naturalness of their actions think then of your own life. Don’t meditate because it’s part of your schedule, or a demand of some particular philosophy. Rather Meditate because it is so Natural.
I finished last week’s blog bemoaning missed opportunities. Indulge me if you will, but Brown Falcons don’t bemoan missed opportunities.
EE and I were making our way back toward the vehicle, and came to an opening in the forest, and there, just along a bit, in the open Brown was sitting. Again it took a while to get round past the bird and be able to position it against a leafy backdrop, rather than a porridge sky.
I positioned myself, you better believe it so I also had good views of the around. I’m left-eyed dominant, and most DSLR designs are for right-eye dominant folk. That way you lucky people can look through the viewfinder and also use your left eye to check the surrounds. My unused eye is buried behind the dials, knobs and buttons on the back of the camera, and I don’t have the luxury of staying intouch with the around. It’s why I’d never make it as a army sniper, have to lean over the weapon to aim. Recoil plays havoc on the cheekbones. 🙂
I even spent years trying to train myself to use my right-eye, but all that did was induce vertigo. 🙂
Brown was obviously well fed, and not in a hurry to go anywhere, and didn’t perceive us as a threat. Twenty minutes went by and neither of us moved. Deng’s thoughts were playing out. Meditation is not to be separated from life.
As it preended out the feathers, it eventually arrived at the tail, and it was possible to see its three new tail feathers and the two outside growing in.
It must have been pretty pleased with its new wardrobe, as it was a very slow, precise and gentle interlocking of the feather edges.
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 
A most excellent image, David. It often pays to sit and wait, to observe and ponder. Interesting that you are LED, I am also and would be left hand dom too, if the teachers hadn’t ‘knocked’ it out of me. Some things I can do either hand but not the viewfinder – it has to be left eye!
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Ditto, it’s why I don’t do cricket and golf, and I’m pretty sure I was left handed, again, was forced. My handwriting is so atrocious, even I have trouble reading it sometimes. Tough for a journo. 🙂
It wasn’t until I started Tai Chi, (which uses a lot of left starting positions), that I found it came quite ‘naturally’ for me. Funny world.
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Beautiful shot of Brown working on his tail feathers. I do enjoy your Saturday meditations.
I’m another who uses the left eye, because it’s the stronger eye. Or is it stronger because I use it more? Dunno.
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Hello Eleanor, I suppose I have tried to make the Saturday posts a bit quirky. and also a chance to extend out beyond just the standard stories. Sometimes its just blank, but gets going once I get a kick start. 🙂
There is I think quite a possibility that we not only use a stronger eye, but somehow father back, we might have followed what everyone else seemed to do, and probably the intruction pictures in the books or manuals were in mirror and perhaps we just followed along.
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A lovely opportunity David for a great capture. You really are blessed to have this Brown family so easily accessed. I use to use my left eye to view find, but it was my bad one and when it git worse and so did my photos I had to train my right eye to do the finding, it took a while, but thankfully I did change my left is quite poor now.
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Hello Ashley, this bird has provided endless amounts of enjoyment, and we have been quite graced by the encounter.
I really tried to train my right eye some years back, when I was photographing cars at rallies and track events, as I needed to see what was coming around the corner. But in the end, I had to give it up, as the eye/brain coordination, (vertigo) took over, and I missed more shots than I got.
So back to the current method. I do tend to keep the camera a little away from my face, (disregarding the ‘press the camera into your face’ adage). So I do get a little bit of around on the rhs. Problem with last week’s shot was the walkers came on the blind left side.
Good luck for the week.
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It’s my second attempt to comment on this post. I did two weeks ago, then it was discovered that I was registered with WordPress and I had to enter my password, which I, naturally, forgot.
I really like your photo of he Brown Falcon preening.
Now I don’t know anymore what I was writing then, but definitely your post reminds me of the importance of paying more attention as to how my eyes work. I’m a bit short-sighted and I’ve been always wearing glasses while driving and photographing, yet I use them only to spot the birds in a distance. Otherwise I look above them through the viewfinder. Now, occasionally, I’m having some problems with my vision, I take off my glasses and I see better! Also I always had to remind myself to keep the other eye open. After reading your post I am even more aware of that. Thanks!
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Hello, Grrrr WordPress and passwords. Like a spreading disease. 🙂 I have to log in each time I use WordPress, it no longer remembers me!
Hey!!! One of the joys of getting older, is the eyesight is beginning to change. I think by inclination I am left-handed, do many things that way, but I was forced at school to write with my right. I can recall some pages of my classroom notes like essays that started of with a full line at the top of the page, and then as I wrote, the indent moved further and further to the right and by the time I was at the bottom of the page, the line of text was about two words long and the margin was a huge blank triangle on the left. 🙂
Even today, I find my hand writing atrocious and even I have problems reading it. Thank goodness for keyboards.
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