Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A Quick Walk in the Woods



It was meant to be a quick walk in the woods.
He didn't want to go,
but I coaxed him along with promises of
throwing rocks in the creek,
following animal tracks
and searching for nests high up in the trees.
It wasn't long before he was running along the trail,
happy and free.

We walked along the creek,
he threw rocks,
I sat and watched.
We meander through the bushes,
climbing over fallen trees,
searching for forest fairies.
We sat for a minute,
watching leaves dance
across the floor of the forest.

Then we spotted him,
a black squirrel,
leaves in mouth,
on a mission.

He looked a little nervous,
our presence threw him I am sure.
He scattered around for a bit,
we waited and watched
in silence,
glancing at each other the odd time.

He scampered up a tree,
then jumped to another.
Then Reece saw it,
he pointed to the top of the tree,
a nest.

The squirrel was cautious,
slowly making his way to his nest,
looking around every few steps,
being sure no one was following.
Then he made his way inside,
to add the leaves to his home
we guessed.
He popped back out,
sat on a branch,
staring out at the world
for quite some time.

We sat still, side by side,
taking it all in,
amazed at this rare opportunity
to witness the squirrel
working on his nest,
creating a home for his family.
A place of warmth and love,
for the long cold winter ahead.

When we left the squirrel
he was still sitting on his branch.
We think he looked our way,
maybe his way of saying good bye,
but we can't be sure.

The quick walk I coaxed him on
was longer than we both expected
and filled with so much more
then we could have hoped for.

12 comments:

  1. I find so often that my kids do just the opposite. They coax me into walking. Even when it's super hot outside!

    I'm so glad the experience went so well!

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    1. Haha, I usually don't have a problem KC, but on this day he had spent the morning with my parents and really wanted to go home. I, on the other hand, really needed the walk, so the compromise was a quick walk. It was almost 90 minutes later when we returned :)

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  2. Wow - such an awesome moment to witness. So much wonder from being immersed in nature. That image is beautiful xx.

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    1. It was pretty awesome, I have never seen a squirrel in action like that before. Pretty special for both of us.

      Thank you, that photo isn't from this walk, I didn't have my camera with me, it is from a hike a few weeks ago.

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  3. Oh Kim, I read this post just minutes after we got back from a short walk to the post office with a 5 year old boy who did NOT want to go! Such funny timing. Might I add that your walk with your boy turned out much better than mine. Mine cried the whole way there and back :)

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  4. Daily I get to watch squirrels out my kitchen windows, I just wish I wasn't seeing them make off with every single nut from my pecan trees. :)

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    1. Oh no!!! The little munchkins are on our windowsill daily eating away at the birdseed. Luckily we managed to get the little critters out of our attic, although today they were trying to get back in. It will be an interesting few days until they find a new home :)

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  5. I love that nature walks almost always mean encountering some kind of unexpected discovery or experience - you never know what you'll find and it's always pretty awesome. I loved this post and I wish we had black squirrels around here!

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    1. I know, always something new to catch our attention and draw us in. I love it too!

      Thank you.

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