Nature from a distance

Skype is calling, and I hurry to answer...

I went for a walk in the woods today.
With my youngest son, and his Ipod
by way of Skype.....
Up in the Chilcotin where the meadowfolk live.

With his camera he showed me a squirrel
his tail curled up over his back,
sitting silent and unmoving,
(not even an eyelash)
on the branch of an evergreen tree.

Below him, in a pile on the ground
was a great mound of acorns,
not scraped up by human hands
but put there one by one
by this far-seeing fellow,
(or is it two by two, - one in each side
of the squirrel's pouchy cheeks)

sensing approaching winter
and the snow that will protect his stash
and keep his little tummy full.



Yesterday we inspected the beaver's
preparation and how she provides,
and my son told me of a chance encounter he had
with a muskrat and a Mallard duck,
holding conversation in the middle
of the creek.

and of the symbiotic relationship
the muskrat has with the beaver,
she providing him with winter shelter in return
for food and building materials.
And I thought it would be nice to know
this sociable muskrat,
and how he would inspire Beatrix Potter
to include him in her tales, and the stories
she could tell about him, Count Middlemarch Muskrat.

It is a grand and splendid world!!!!