first day of summer

2.21.2010
I went on a walk to mail postcards and photograph the river swollen from record rains, but once out I was drawn further down Haymaker road. I was not lost, but was seeing what I had not seen before: wild iris blooming in the ditch, the way antelope tease and chase…always out of camera range, and a pair of birds inadvertently flushed out from the fence line. They made such a ruffle and squawk I couldn’t make out their makings to identify them in my new Introduction to Familiar Species: Montana Birds.

Sitting by the irrigation canal, putting my head back on the gravel for full horizontal sun exposure, I couldn't recall another spontaneous walk that ended in sitting still by water, alone and without book or journal or other devises to keep me from getting “lost.” Was it high school?

On the way back, I noticed a metal ring in the ditch. It looked like the top of a crock pot. Trash! was my first thought, but as I got closer, I saw that it was a hubcap...not trash! Pulling it from the mud that is so close under the dirt’s surface, I saw that it was a unblemished chrome moon…perfect for reflecting the sky. I carried it home, inspiring the one truck that passed to slow down…a hubcap break down?? The driver was dressed in perfect John Wayne western gear. As he pulled up he must have realized what I was carrying. “Just walking?” he asked. “Just walking,” I laughed back and he was off again leaving me with my own stated purpose.