Hummers in October

It was a cold and wet October morning. The air was thick with mist and the chill felt good against the flush on my face. There would be no laundry hanging outside today, so instead I took a little walk around my garden as I tried to settle the internal storm raging inside my body. The absence of the song birds at the feeder seemed odd until I looked up and saw the hawk on my neighbor’s areal. Everyone has to eat I reminded myself, and I turned my back and walked over to the water garden that was silent without the solar pump on this overcast day.

We don’t have the colors of Autumn here in southern California, not like I remember from when I grew up on the east coast but we do have a sparkle of color here and there and even the lonely monochromatic pineapple guava was brilliant in its own subtle way. All of the greens were vibrant with dew that seemed to grow as more vapor from the air merged into the droplets and glistened under the gray sky.

As I walked to the back edge of the yard I noticed that the cape honey suckle was in full bloom. Not quite a pumpkin patch but it would be as close as I was going to come to one this year so I smiled and walked along the perimeter of the yard.

The humming birds had no fear of the nearby breakfast guest and were busy enjoying a banquet of bright orange blossoms. There were dozens in the air making high pitched tweets and whistles. Buzzing by my ear as I walked close and unknowingly disturbed their solo song in the thicket of the tall bush.

So many stories floated through my mind about how even in the cool of a west coast approaching winter that the humming bird finds the universe full of potential and opportunity. But rather than getting lost in the mental music of my egoic mind, the total immersion into the symphony of sound that was inches from my eyes provided a silent opening instead into the Peace that I was longing to remember and knew that I so wanted to share with you … namaste.