offthebeatenpath

February 25th, 2015 by Jan

This morning on my race to the sunrise and to put myself in the way of beauty, I went off path.

For the first time since I’ve been here, I left the sidewalk and neighbourhood. I wandered down a narrow trail that greeted me with a sign that said, “No Dumping.”

Usually, I walk with a talking book or music in my ear, but since this path was new for me I turned it off. Everyone here talks about bears, cougars, and creeps in the woods, so I thought it would be a good idea to be super present for this exploration.

I walked down a narrow but well worn path, and thought this will be a good place to take Moser off leash, when he comes to visit.

After about a half hour, I came to a choice in the path. Left, right or straight ahead. Now, Joseph Campbell said, “Keep your centre and lean left.” So, I usually take the left when offered a choice. But today, I continued straight ahead, as I knew that was the direction of the ocean and I would know exactly where I was soon enough.

As the path opened up, I walked up huge boulders. I thought of Jim. Good ole rock! Nothing beats rock!

Then, my breath was taken away.

An eagle was perched, not 20 metres away from me. Holy Moly! How cool was that. I quietly dug the camera out of my pocket and zoomed in with the telephoto lens to get a good look and photo.

The bird never moved as I crept around to get a better view. Amazing! Wow… Wow… I was delighted.

sneak

It never moved, never even blinked or turned his head to watch me. Amazing! It slowly dawned on me… it was fake.

Someone carved a beautiful sculpture of this eagle. They placed it high up above the town on a huge rock, off a narrow path in the woods.

A random act of beauty that I put myself in the way of today!

1 thought on “offthebeatenpath

  1. Jim

    One of my photography professors has a friend who works in ceramic. In his free time, he makes stones and pebbles. Apparently, they look (and feel) like real rocks.

    He takes them with him when he travels, and distributes them on beaches and along rivers.

    I always think of him when picking up really cool looking / unusual rocks on the beach. Nothing beats rock…except maybe ceramic.

    Reply

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