Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Two sounds that have been comforting me recently are a frog croaking in our backyard, or somewhere very nearby and an owl hooting at night. I can'y sight either of them, but I love knowing they are close by. In my neighborhood I've seen, over the years, a huge buck deer, opossums, racoons, a gray fox, squirrels, and the endless array of rats. There is the cat Toby who meanders around our yard, hoping for birds, but too big and clumsy to catch any. We have a bird feeder attached to a window in the sun room, so we see a variety of birds. But the unseen...the experience is special. Years ago I hiked a way up past part of the campus to see two baby Great Horned owls sitting in a tree. Their parents were further up the hill watching, but the path had been blocked off for dogs and the people who came up were quiet and respectful. Two crows live in the parkway across from my steps and often greet me if I'm coming or going. They never fly away because they reccognize me and because I always talk to them a few minutes. There is a Peregrine falcon and his mate who have nested for years in the Campanile on campus, and recently a male ursurper attacked the male, who had to be treated at a wildlife center, but he's back now with his mate. There is a whole, mostly silent and secret world we live among here.