I went out into the woods early here in the hollers of Bella Vista. Though I was watchful, I didn’t see the deer until they ran and crashed away. The thick mass of leaves made surreptitious approach impossible. I saw one large buck. I was 15 feet from them. As I stood hanging another cup in the trees, I could hear a buck snorting. Above, hawks were already swooping and prowling the early overcast morning. Carolina chickadees, a solitary woodpecker, robins, fish crows, and other birds around me sang and pecked, ignoring the cold. It was both a lemon moments and stolen one.

Just me in the trees, surrounded.

It was a beautiful moment. I thought of one of my favorite quotes, “You can’t take a picture of this, it’s already gone.”
I felt a pang of aloneness, just as I had yesterday when I went down and snapped a picture of last visit’s cup.

I whispered, “Tomorrow.” There isn’t one. Only now.

Love, X
.