17 July 2019 – Ede, Netherlands

‘bird-hide’

pre-sunrise waking dreams with georgie this morning. drinking in the heart honey in the pre-dawn light. a deep blue sky, pine silhouettes, and mist hanging above the fields. just magic. red deer grazing with their massive antlers and strong strong shoulders and chests. wild swine investigating us with their beautiful long faces and strong cheekbones. two cheeky speckled foxes dancing across the clearing! i am reminded of the dancing lawn in narnia. a buzzard flies across the clearing – i am too tall to see it, but sitting in the hide we share our excitement with big wide silent grins. little puffs of warm air condense in the morning chill as they rise out of the soil in front of us, like moths wings. the sunlight slowly draws out the colour of the forest, sky turning to purple and then blue. we walk home eating juicy strawberries, marvelling at the morning light and the mists that still hang. i walk alone – i freeze – roe deer are grazing, dark eyes and velvet noses turn towards me and ears flick. we stand stock still, metres apart, and they graze. in a flash of long legged grace the deer are trotting and leaping away! a woodpecker entices me with its tapping, and there he is! high up in a maple, speckled chest and red cap standing out, moving up and around the trunk. mornings like these are long and lazy, from the full moon to the full sun, drawing a little smile on my heart. boots in the dirt have come, as always, just in time.