Afternoon Meditations

 3:00pm haze prevents the sky from revealing its depths of blue. But in that haze wheels an eagle, and a blue heron flying it’s straight line path. Tree swallows thread patterns overhead, while songbird tunes carry in the sweet breeze. Two cicadas fly past as dragonflies hover and dart, and a cabbage moth flutters in warm white. A tiger bee fly has decided I’m friend not foe, while a wasp seeks out sustenance in the form of swallowtail caterpillars…fortunately, all have grown and vacated the fennel and dill, as it’s their time to form chrysalides.

From time-to-time the sun is swathed in clouds, barely decipherable in that hazy sky, but the reprieve is welcomed on my shoulders. In the distance I can here my kids and their friends playing wiffle ball; laughing, singing, and arguing plays, while a charcoal grill somewhere is burning that nostalgic scent of lighter fluid soaked briquettes. In some ways summer afternoons like this are familiar…like an old memory I revisit…in other ways they are a first, giving me opportunity to experience them anew.

Afternoon Meditations. E. A. O'Connell. July 20, 2021.