Wakeup

It is amazing how much of the world we can block out, even when it surrounds us totally and is right there in our face.

As I finish up some work on my computer this afternoon, I lean back in my chair and glance out the window. There, silhouetted by the bright sky, hangs a large spider moving back and forth, up and down. It is carefully preparing a new web in an opportune area among the branches of the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (brunfelsia) shrubs that line the alley. I imagine tonight will be busy with the capturing and preparing of food for the days to come. Since the web itself is invisible from my vantage point, it is like the spider is levitating there, truly building “castles in the air.”

It amazes me that all this activity surrounds us and we don’t notice, expect by accident. I look up when the squirrels bounce of the trees and walls as they chase each other. Birds are scared up from the feeders at the approach of a neighborhood cat. On occasion, a hawk has whisked in at jet-like speeds, looking for a meal.

I feel like a need the equivalent of a bed-side alarm clock, only this alarm would wake me up to the world, instead of sleeping through my days with my head down, seeing nothing but the keyboard.

Time to go out into the garden and “wake up”, at least for a few minutes.