At nature's door, here in suburbia .....

"In the hope of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet." Albert Schweitzer

The other night I was sitting on the sofa with my bead tray in my lap working on another jewelry creation. My eye caught something outside the patio door. A skunk was drinking from the heated birdbath! I stopped and just watched him awhile, so fluffy, a little waddle to his walk, so delicately sipping water.

It never ceases to amaze me how much wildlife there is in suburbia. Of course, they were here long before we were... and I for one am glad they remain. They honor us with each visit. This small house is unusual in that the living room faces the back yard. My garden is a year-round delight, not because it's the most beautiful yard around, but because part of me is always out there in spirit with the little creatures and the beautiful growing things. Look at yesterday's visitor, a sweet possum in his luxurious winter coat!

One thing that I continue to discover is that no matter how beautifully I decorate someone's home, it cannot begin to compare with a single leaf trembling on a branch outside the window, or with a single feather on the bird that sits on the branch. THAT is beauty.

Sometime in the 80's I became engrossed in the writings of Albert Schweitzer. He is one of my heroes. He was born to a family of means, yet when he was just six years old he came home from his first day of school and realized that many of the children in his class were poor. He informed his mother that he would not wear his best clothes to school again, so as not to make the other children feel self-conscious or ashamed. In these days when children can't wait to go to school flaunting the latest, hottest shoes or jeans, it's hard to imagine a boy like Albert, with so much compassion and sensitivity for his fellow classmates.

Albert Schweitzer was many things... a theologian, humanitarian, philosopher, medical physician... but in everything he did he revered life and sought to ease suffering on this earth.

I thought of Albert's words this week when I noticed ants in a corner near the kitchen door.

"A farmer who has mowed down a thousand flowers in his meadow to feed his cows should take care that on his way home he does not, in wanton pastime, switch off the head of a single flower growing at the edge of the road, for in so doing he injures life without being forced to do so by necessity." (From "All That Lives")

I am the kind of person who catches a fly and sets it free outside. I do the same with spiders, bees and any other creatures that wander inside. "Nice of you to stop by, but it's time to go now." And the thought of killing these ants saddens me so. Ants are amazing animals who work together and who "bury" their dead. Yet I know I can't allow them to continue to live here... it's a matter of keeping things clean, healthy and sanitary in my home. I tried several natural repellants which only caused the ants to relocate a few feet away. And so I was forced to use a bug spray. With remorse and resignation I quietly think... "I am so sorry and wish there was another way." I am not proud of these actions. I'm a nature lover, I recycle and do what I can for the environment. Everything about pesticides goes against my beliefs, but I had to do it. I thought of Albert's words... and felt he might understand the full range of my emotions.

And to dwell on it would diminish my enjoyment of the wildlife right outside my door.

This winter I've so delighted in the birds and furry friends who have come for food or water. Some of them seem to know me, looking up to see me yet somehow understanding I'm safe.

For most of my life I've longed to live in the country... to be closer to nature. As a little girl I'd ask my father for a horse. Now I know how impractical and impossible that request was! But bless his heart, he never said no. He said "When we move to the country and have lots of land we'll talk about it." It may never come to pass, but that's all right... right here, if I look closely, I find nature all around me