Hi All,
It is curious to me how easy and effortless it can be to awaken into the magic realm of nature. I live in a beautiful part of California, there is even a state park that is quite literally right in my back yard. The ocean’s roar can be heard at night, especially when the tide is high. As I have gotten older I find myself no longer willing to load up the kayaks to go for a spin in the back bay, or to go on any real type of hike in the hills and mountains that surround me. Of course age and injury will slow most of us, but those conditions do not limit my ability to appreciate my surroundings.
There is an abundance of wildlife in my area although there has been a substantial decline due to the increase of population. Still, it was one of earth’s tiniest creatures that helped to awaken me into the dream of nature and her world. This evening as I was watering my front yard I was aware of the sun’s declining approach in the west which was marked by a large hedge of bottle-brush on the west side of my yard when I noticed a rather interesting occurrence. It really should not have been unusual or different for me, but this evening seemed to be different.
I had turned my back to the sun as I stood in the shade of the bottle brush hedge and watered the grass. As I did this a highly energized hummingbird swooped down to my right, and directly in front of the water spray. The hummingbird just hung there in mid air (as they tend to do) while I observed how quickly it batted its wings while it bathed in the water’s over spray. I watched the hummingbird hold itself in one place for what seemed like a very long time. As the hummingbird hovered across from me I could see it’s glistening green breast shimmer in alternating colors of red, silver, blue, and burgundy.
I stood transfixed (I am not sure why because I have experienced this more times than I can remember) watching the bird dance in the tiny droplets of water. The hummingbird seemed to be shape shifting not only in color but in size as well, darting from spot to spot in short bursts of direction. As mentioned earlier I had been using the hedge not just to shade me from the sun pushing down on my face but to minimize the heat, and keep me cool. I also use the marching shade from the hedge over the lawn as a tool to help measure the time, and to let me know how long I have been watering in any one place.
I had marked the shade on the lawn against a block on an adjacent retaining wall, Each block and the shade is approximately three minutes of watering time (this varies depending on the season), and this is how often I change watering positions during the summer and early fall. Well, after I had finished watching the hummingbird’s dance of color change and body size it had been well over nine minutes against the three minutes that I normally spend at this particular spot. This really isn’t unusual unless you consider that the nine minutes spent on this one area should have only taken me three minutes. However, the shade and the marking on the retaining wall block did not exceed the normal three minutes I use for measuring time, but the time on my cell phone told me it had been over nine minutes from when I began watering.
This is what I would categorize as a time warp, or time acceleration. I have been using this method of the shade and cinder block to measure time for almost 15 years, and I always begin by marking the shade at the same block on the same wall, in the same yard. What’s more, I cannot imagine a hummingbird participating in this type of interaction for this length of time. Obviously, one of my tools for measuring time was wrong, but which one? I do not believe that the sun faltered in any way, nor do I believe that my computerized cell phone malfunctioned because I checked it to the other clocks when I came inside.
However this experience unfolded it was magical and mesmerizing. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and I highly recommend dreaming while awake; just not when operating heavy machinery.
Aho
Curtis Williams MA, A.P. D., CRTM
