Five deer, five cats, two dogs...

All day long I listen to the noises of construction outside my office window. A three story building is going up, concrete sidewalks and stairs removed, gardens destroyed, parking lots rebuilt, trees cut down - the droning, clanging, banging and general disturbance outside combines with the racket of the air conditioner spitting out dust in my office. It is a symphony of irritation, the background noise for 11 long hours.

Hence the morning walks.

Yes, I need the exercise. Yes, the dogs need to be out and exploring. But the primary motive for walking is escape, if only for an hour, from machines and distruction to nature...an escape from the noises of man to those of droaning cicadas and creaking crickets; to bird songs and deer snorted warnings. It is an hour's innoculation - dogs joyfully investigating neighborhood smells; dragonflies and butterflies skimming the top of the meadows; and cycles of growth, flowering, seeding and dormancy...

Four of us walked today and were greeted by one doe gracefully leaping across the road in front of us as she exited the near meadow. We continued on to the far meadow where four more does grazed. They startled and headed on to the woods beyond.

The cloud-cover was grey and misty rain fell, just enough for us to wonder if it was rain or not.

It was a cat morning as well. Two greys and a tuxedo met us near the park. A yellow and yet another grey fled our yard as we returned home. Ready for another day.