First Flight

I have been feeling a little disconnected these past few weeks.  Disconnected from friends, family, even the peeps seem very distant.  I have been trying to reach out, but I feel like I fall short every day of being able to touch anyone real.  Not sure what's going on, but there is a sense of forgetting.

I used to set my intentions on my drive to work every morning.  At first it was to see if it worked, but as it proved itself to me I began working more and bigger magicks.  When I got let go from work, I stopped commuting.  I stopped intending.  Oh I would remember infrequently and bust out a few, but did not hold a daily vision for my day.  I found a new rhythm of going with whatever flowed toward me.  I loved that.  What's flowing toward me these days seems a little less righteous so it seemed a good day to start the intending over.  Nothing too big.

So this morning I asked to be reconnected, to "see" and appreciate the world around me that I was zombie-ing my way through.  Then, as per usual, I forgot it and went on with the day.  On the way home, I stopped at one of my favorite undiscovered Cincinnati gems to photograph the hot biscuits aka the hibiscus.  I noticed them a couple weeks ago in their alizarin glory with the evening light slanting thru the petals.  It was enough so that I reminded myself every day when I drove by to bring the camera which I remembered this morning.  By the time I got there today, camera in hand finally, the light was shot.  I did what any obsessed....er dedicated letterboxer would do instead, I scoped it out for place to plant.

This one is a Cooper's Hawk

As I arrived at the back of this small urban jewel, I heard these odd bird calls that I couldn't immediately identify.  I may not be able to identify birds by their song, but I can at least identify ones I have never heard before.  I started down the path and found an inconspicuous place to lurk.  The sounds were incredibly close and coming from more than one source as best I could tell.  Suddenly a flurry of wings and four hawks drop out of the tree not five feet from me.  Startled, I did my best to get some field ID going, but it was just too glorious in that moment of wings and excitement to be all nerdy.  I sat down and watched as the parents worked the two fledglings through the trees by calling to them.  The two little hawks responding by calling loudly (that was the sound I had heard) and then awkwardly flapping over to the tree their parents were in.  Coolest thing I have seen in a while.

This one is a sharp-shinned hawk

     LIGHTBULB!

I asked to feel connected to the world around me.   I did not end up in this park or in this place by accident.  I was led here by a sense of need so that I could witness this first flight and be part of it.  I asked to "see" the world more clearly.  And who sees better than a hawk?


Now on to the nerdy part (you had to know I was going there).  All four hawks were strongly barred (striped) on both the underside of the tail and the wing.  As best I could tell they were a family of either sharp-shinned hawks or Cooper's hawks.  From the photos you can see how closely they resemble each other.  I may stop back by tomorrow and see if they are still about.  I somehow doubt they will be.  I mean, if I were able to fly, I don't think I would hang around here for any longer than I had to.