|
Living
in 3/4 Turtle Time
06.02.16
-- Life
is hectic in the 21st century.
Seems like
there’s no downtime anymore. There’s always
something to do, somewhere to be,
stress driving us on and on and on. Money’s tight, sleep
evasive, time ticking
away faster and faster and faster…until I take a deep
breath, grab Spotz the
lizard, Baba the bird, a glass of homebrew ale and head outside to the
turtle
pen. It’s a
Spotz and Stella
|
homemade wooden enclosure abutting a raised garden. I put Spotz in
there
with Stella, a Florida box turtle, and sit on a folding chair with Baba
on my
shoulder. As he dances around muttering incoherent sun conure talk, I
sip my
beer and fall into a state of bliss. It’s serene back here,
shaded by a
towering old seagrape tree. The wind chimes my wife hung nearby sing in
the
light breeze, which also carries the chirps of wild birds. I take
another sip
of beer, offer some to Baba, who dips his beak in it then shakes his
head,
spraying me with a few fine drops. Little anole lizards skitter about,
periodically pausing to inflate their red necks. Looking for love, I
hear. A
mockingbird perches on a low-hung phone line, squawking at us for being
too
near her nest. Two cardinals, a bright red male and his drab mate,
chase each
other around the sky before landing on a branch of the mango tree.
Nearby, a
wee
Baba and me
|
woodpecker stands on the trunk of a coconut palm, tip-tapping away.
A gray
squirrel climbs atop one of the four-by-four posts where we sometimes
hang
hammocks on a lazy weekend afternoon. He sits there munching something,
his
bushy tail swept over his back and resting atop his head like a bad
toupee. I
take another sip of beer. No matter how slowly I try to drink it, it
disappears
too fast. I’m so relaxed. A pair of Monarch butterflies
flitter about the
milkweed. My mind wanders around the block, ideas blossoming like
wildflowers. Soon,
I’ll have to leave my little sanctuary and head back to the
pressure cooker of
modern life. Or maybe not. I drain the last of my brew and fetch
another to share
with Baba, and Mother Nature.
|
