Serenity

I'm out on sis's porch on a perfect August afternoon after spending four hours cutting huge dead limbs off of tall pines (that's hard work, especially when you're on your tippy toes cutting them as far over your head as you can reach). Sitting here answering email, I look over to my right off this big lovely porch high on a hill and there's a deer standing at the bottom end of two rows of fir trees that form a green canopy down her driveway. Looking up, I see three peaks, a deep blue sky and puffy clouds; a perfect day. The sun is sifting through the branches above the deer and she looks like some poised starlet. I know if I go for my camera she'll dash for safety. Sometimes you just have to look and...oh, another has joined her! It's like they're in a picture frame of beautiful green trees. They seem to be eating something in the road though I can't imagine what that could be. Their ears are perked, their white tails are flashing. I'm having a real blessing.

Can't resist; I go for my camera(up two flights of stairs and down) just knowing they'll be gone...yet they remain! I start clicking and inch slowly toward them, stopping now and then. I close the gap to maybe 70 yards; what a sight. They casually turn and walk off into the rich fern and maples. Moments later I see them bounding through a clearing in the woods. I stop at the foot of the driveway and stay quiet, hoping they'll come back; their tails like flags flashing in the grove 100 yards away. I'm still. I hear a sound to my right and gently turn -- 40 yards away walks a wild turkey hen. It don't get much more country than right here on the mountain!

For me, this is serenity.