Parent Birds

I was outside one day when I heard strange sounds from the street. I ducked under the evergreens that grow in front of the house, quietly, to see what made the noise. It was four large black birds (crows) on the street, making human-like sounds. One of them was picking up something looking like French fries and feeding them to the others. I surmised that the one doing the feeding was the parent, although they were all approximately the same size. The thing that made this so memorable was the cooperation among the birds and the human like sounds they were making. This reminded me of two robins I had seen earlier. They looked to be the same size as eachother, like the crows, but one of them was offering the other one an earth worm.

The Tiger

When my kids were young we would always take them to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City once a year. My favorite animals were cats and I have always loved tigers. While we were in the large cat part of the zoo, my husband remarked that the tigers were looking at me. I looked at one of them and it was watching me intently. I looked into this tiger's eyes and it was like he was talking to me wordlessly. It was as if he was asking and telling all at once. I had the sense that we understood each other on another level, one that I was unaccustomed to communicating on, and felt a bit awkward with. So, I said to them without speaking out loud, "It is all going to be alright, I know it is." We moved on, but there was another place in the zoo, where those same tigers were visible and they were still looking at me. My husband said they looked like they wanted to eat me, but I didn't think so. I wanted to tell them about all the people meditating in the world and perhaps I did just by being there.

The Squirrel

I just happened to notice a squirrel outside my window where I sometimes, meditate . I was listening to some Gandharva veda music. The squirrels always play on the fence but this squirrel was just sitting there on the corner of the fence that was nearest the open window and it was just calmly staying there as if listening to the music. It just sat there for quite a while, quietly, with its nose resting on the fence pointing toward the window. It seemed so strange and yet sweet.