Boomer Babes and Real Cougars
The original hippie girls grow up!
Moonscapes
Almost every night, I look at the moon and most especially when it's full. I didn't always do this. It all started back in early February of 2006, when a dear friend died suddenly. He had been cutting down a tree in his back yard and fell to his death. Naturally, I was very disturbed about this sudden event and was desperately looking for answers, which of course, there were none.
He spent the greater part of his adult life working to create his vision and designed and built the house that he lived in with his own hands. It was on high land overlooking a beautiful lake.
At home in the forest, he planted native iris there to share the beauty and create a surprise. I recently heard that the property had been sold at auction and it saddens me to think what will become of it without his watchful eye and loyal stewardship.
About a century ago, Indians hunted and lived along that very lake. The lush green land of this area is beautiful with soaring pine and magnolia trees that grow wild in the forest. The magnolias have beautiful, velvety white, lemon-scented flowers and underneath them an abundance of low growing, spiky palmetto bushes. Great blue heron can be seen gliding over the water and the surrounding forest is safe refuge and home to an abundance of eagle and hawk.
Once we saw a grey fox in the back yard and another time, watched Swallowtail Kites, a type of hawk, with pure white feathers and long flowing tails, as they floated like long white silk scarves doing a dance. We counted fourteen as they slowly crisscrossed the late afternoon sky, until they eventually drifted out of site and onward toward their next destination.
At one time, the area was a fisherman's paradise and avid fishermen knew it well. Now, there is a power plant closeby that uses coal. The pollution that falls from the sky into the lake has already started to affected the fish. All of nature's gifts are not to be taken for granted.
I was driving home about a year after his death when as I turned onto the street leading to my house, I saw a hawk swooping down right above my windshield. As I drove on further, the hawk followed me. I got out of my car and stood in my driveway for quite a long time looking up at the bird as he continued to hover there in the sky over my head.
It was a very quiet Sunday afternoon and the neighborhood was very still. There was not another living soul anywhere in sight and I stood there with tears in my eyes, carefully watching the bird as he looked down at me. There was absolutely no question in my mind that the soul of my friend was soaring freely and he was letting me know that all was well. From that moment on, I have been at peace with my loss and only notice the moon now when it is full.
