Paw Tracks at Owl Cottage

Author:Denis O’Connor [O’Connor, Denis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849018951
Publisher: Constable & Robinson
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Soon our minds were attuned to happier thoughts and feelings as spring finally arrived and all at once the garden and the trees began to show new life. It is at this time of the year that I most enjoy walking around the garden, usually in the early evening when the sunlight dims to a hazy glow and the earth shines in a golden half-light which the Scottish call the ‘gloaming’. Then the colours of the flowers and the fruit blossom seem to radiate a lustre of their very own, as if they are giving back sunshine to illuminate the air. It is a special time for insects, too, among which only the bumble bees work with feverish haste in contrast to the fluttering butterflies, with wings softly hued, and flimsy damselflies iridescently shimmering as they hover above the waters of the bird bath. Such sights inspire the human heart and mind with poetic images and nourish the soul. In this vein of sheer delight, who would dare call my all-time favourite wild flower, the cowslip, a weed?

Reflections like this awaken nostalgic reminiscences of earlier times in my life when I’m afraid I became an inveterate truant from school. If on my journey to school a passing gleam of sunshine touched me then my longing for the dense greenery of fields and inviting riverbanks, the path through the woods and the excitement of the lake seen distant through the trees would turn me away to cavort as a free spirit among nature’s bountiful offerings! To watch the nesting songbirds and to listen to their sweet whistling, to glimpse hares running wild across fields of waving grasses, to lie at ground level at the side of a pond and gaze in curious wonder at a stickleback in full mating regalia of black and red, weaving his nest of slime-green moss to attract a mate – this was the education for which I craved even though I knew that that a heavy punishment would be meted out both at home and at school when I was found out. I didn’t care: it was worth it. That inevitable outcome never deterred me from my wild gambols with mother nature.

One morning as Catherine and I ate breakfast the boys, as we nearly always referred to Pablo and Carlos now, started making a real fuss at the conservatory window. When we looked out we saw what had bothered them: two frisky red squirrels were feeding from the peanuts we put out for the birds. I addressed the cats in human terms but they understood the tone of my voice alright: ‘You’ve had your breakfast. Don’t begrudge other animals a bite or two!’

While my cats show remarkable empathy towards us I’m afraid that does not extend to other species. And so, in spite of their insistent demands to be let out, I refused and watched in fascination the acrobatic antics of the squirrels who were hanging upside down, taking nuts and seeds from the bird-feeders. Both

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.