"He Watches ME..." ...(WE)

Can you see the owl in this picture?  If you can, then you are a pretty wise "owl observer"

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while you will know that I have had this "relationship" with the Barred Owls in my backyard and also remarkably in my father's backyard. My Owl Story ,"The Last Farewell"  (check on these links for the stories...)

Well, now we are getting ready to move away from this home and my backyard visitors...and I am kind of sad about that.  I have watched these owls raise their babies, listened to them call to each other in the night and in the day, ("Who- who -who cooks for youuuuuu????"), witnessed their love-wooing, (sometimes quite passionate and somewhat hysterical in tone)  and have had many a long conversation with them, or at least a "stare-down" with them. (I stare at them, and they stare at me...I've always wondered what they were thinking while watching me watching them).  It has been a remarkable friendship from the very beginning.  No doubt about it, they have been the highlight of our sojourn in this community...actually the only "friends" we have had here in the five years we have lived in this particular house! That may sound strange, but that should tell you that it has not been a super friendly neighborhood, at least not in the human sense.

So, we are moving on...and already we are making new (human) friends in our new neighborhood and we haven't even moved in yet!  But I truly am going to miss my owl friends. They have comforted me when I was grieving, they have entertained us and our guests with their antics...we have marveled at their amazing acts of parenting in raising their young ones...it has been a uniquely wonderful experience.  (Check out "The Things I see Outside My Open Window" page on this blog)

The other evening I was washing up the supper dishes and looking out my kitchen window up at the treetops, and there right before me was one of our owl friends, perched on a very small branch perfectly balanced, and I promise you I am not exaggerating, he was literally watching my every move.  I quickly turned out the light in the kitchen so I could see him better, and he never took his eyes off of me.  He sat there for a very long time, and I took advantage of the opportunity to capture a picture, although sadly it was getting too dark and I didn't have the telephoto lens on to bring him up closer, but that's ok...I have the memory of the moment engrained in my mind.  It was as if he was coming to pay his last respects to me since I am going away...it was a special moment.

Ok, you can call me crazy if you want, and you won't be far off...but I appreciated the salute from my old friend.  Actually, I just heard him calling his mate again a few minutes ago...(this is the time of year that they are most likely watching their nestling...the mating time has already taken place...and they take turns guarding the nest, which is nearby).  I will miss hearing their calls and cackles in the night...even though they sometimes sounded a bit eery and loud right outside my bedroom window in the wee hours.  I will miss watching them train their offspring to fly and hunt...BUT, we ARE moving farther into the forest....so I am hoping they have spread the word to their cousins in the treetops to watch out for us and come pay us a visit in our new "Camp in the Woods" house.   I'll be listening and watching...and I'll be sure to let you know when they do!!

So, for now, I say so long to my fine feathered friends...and also say, "Thanks for the memories"...

The Owls have taught me a lesson by their example here...it corresponds with what Jesus was teaching His disciples in Matthew 6:25-28a,  and I want to share it with you now:

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry ....?"

I know that God watches over the owls and the birds of the air and beasts of the field (and woods),  and as the late singer Ethel Waters used to remind us at every Billy Graham crusade back in the "olden days", "His Eye is on The Sparrow, and I know He watches me!"  Ethel Waters singing "His Eye is On the Sparrow", Ethel Waters-at Billy Graham Crusade 1965

So I don't need to worry about my owl friends, nor do I need to worry about my own future...God is watching me....or as Ethel says at the very end of her song ..."I know He's watching 'WE'".... You and me!
Now that's something to remember!!!!