​I would like to share with you another episode of "Morning Has Broken".  Between 7:30 and 8:00 this morning, a layer of fog rose from the ground of Brightwood Park.  The sunlight came through trees and created scenes reminding me of the description of the Garden of Eden.  I took the first few pictures with my Canon camera and later switched to my iPhone 13 to get the contrast right.  

The flowers planted by Rob waved at me.  Not till I almost finished my journey did I become aware that among the flowers there was a king, accompanied by a golden crown (the purple coneflower).

It was a delight to see the waterfall forming at the dam again, after having a long dry summer.  I felt so refreshed by this familiar sight and sound. 

A sweetgum tree at the junction of the large and the small ponds was announcing the coming of foliage season.  With many tree leaves falling prematurely due to the drought, one has to keep fingers crossed for a pretty and colorful autumn. 

I woke up yesterday morning around 6:30 a.m.  As much as I wanted to make up for some sleep that I lost, I was driven by an impulse to get up.  

I wonder if you remember a story appearing in TV news back in the early 1980s.  A United flight on its way from Honolulu to Los Angeles made an emergency landing because a passenger was trying to open the cabin door.  After the landing he explained to security officers why he did it: "I heard the echo of nature telling me that I am a bird, and I am not supposed to be trapped in this cage."  The news became a hot subject in the laboratory where I worked as a graduate student.

Well, as much as I laughed at the news back then, some forty years later, I found myself wacky by responding to the "echo of nature".  No worries!  I am crazy but will not make a drama anywhere else except home and Brightwood Park. 😊 

The park apparently retained a lot of precipitation overnight.  Evaporation from the ground created a light fog, allowing the rising sun to spray light beams into the woods.  Seeing this in multiple areas, I could not help but shout out: "Brightwood!"

A gentle breeze came by and the water drops hiding in the trees started to dance and jump.  It felt strange when the sky was blue with no clouds at all, and the sun was shining, a rain shower took place in the woods,  A poor spider was totally unprepared.  So was I.  While the spider web was swinging, I started dancing in sync and singing "Raindrops keep fallin' on my head".  

As I was about to leave, a smiling face on a tree waved at me.  Despite the activities in the woods, the pond was as tranquil as a mirror.  Without including the shore, a picture of the pond would be hard for one to tell which side is up.  

The chairs by the shore reminded me of friends including Jack and Joan Miller who often sit there to watch ducks and geese.  I long to see them there soon, and you, too! 

Recent rainfalls brought everything back to life.  The water of the pond reached the level of the dam to create a current of refreshment.  Wood ducks started to come back.  The birds were singing again.  The turtles came out dancing.  The spiders contributed fireworks.  Young and old ganoderma mushrooms joined the celebration parade.   New flowers are coming out in the mini-gardens at both the top and bottom of the meadow.  The morning sun was busy setting up a spotlight and tried to determine the priority of objects.

Speaking of living creatures, some of them appear to have amazing instincts.  I had an interesting experience yesterday morning after walking past the bridge and trying to take a few shots of the trees on the Northwest side of the pond.  I first heard a blue jay screaming and saw the bird hopping swiftly toward the bridge, and then a squirrel from my right side made a strange sound like a baby blue jay's screaming.  I stepped back and tried to take a picture of the bird.  All of a sudden a large piece of tree branch fell in front of me.  I thank the little friends for their warning and keeping me from being harmed.  Kevin once shared with me his miraculous story of being saved by a dog from being hit by a flying rocket bomb shell.  Divine interventions sometimes seemed to be  delivered through our animal friends.  Agree?