Gift of Unexpected Beauty

This morning  I'm surprised by the gift of the open petals of a self seeded poppy. I've watched it getting taller and taller in a pot of agapanthus which haven't grown an inch all summer.Yesterday the bud was totally closed ...I didn't know what colour it would be.... and now, instead of the big heads of  a blue, I have this single, brief beauty guarding the door of the green house. 

Yesterday I had another wonderful surprise on my walk -  I spotted the tawny owl - I followed the flap of wide brown wings into the trees and caught a brief glimpse of curved yellow beak and claw perched on top of a telegraph pole ....I  caught it in my camera lens just as it flew off  - blurred in the distance.  

 It was making a strange" kew kew" call which I heard coming out of  the trees on the other side of  a field. So I climbed the bank, grabbing onto the branches of a young hazel tree and crouched amongst the nettles and brambles waiting for it to fly out. And it did, still calling... too far to really see its glory but thrilling all the same.

And then another surprise - the cut stalks of the barley field have been rolled up...

they must have done it on Saturday when I was up early cooking instead of walking.

I love it that every day I walk the same route and everyday I'm surprised by something different from yesterday ....something under my feet, in the hedgerow...a new sound, a new smell....

something in the sky....

this morning as I opened the gate to the footpath I heard a rush and roar of gas ...

and looked up to see this hot air balloon drifting  above the trees in a marbled sea of clouds. And I remembered the flight that Robin and I took for his 50th birthday ....in another, different life.

And the formation of clouds...

and the light on the rolled up barley ...a different pinky gold from yesterday....

and this poor young thrush, dead on the path in front of me ...its innards spilled behind it. 

Later , sitting under the oak tree I hear a rustling in the stream below me  and wait till this blackbird emerges, rooting about in the mud for grubs.

 Then another scratching  movement  deep in the  hazel hedge behind me...I hope it's the tiny wren which I've only seen once before....and it is. I glimpse it briefly hopping between the branches. 

I feel so blessed by the free gift of this unexpected beauty all around me.

It keeps me going all day as I clean the bathroom, de-clutter bottles of old shampoo and soap dishes, and make phone calls to a builder....to a solar panel company.... write an email to a dear friend, and eat my left -overs- from- the- birthday party- lunch on the bench in my blustery garden...hoping  the poppy petals will survive the rain that I can feel is coming in on the wind.

But glad I won't have to water the garden this evening.

PS for B. Thanks for lovely comments...no progress re why I can't reply....but how wonderful that the little purple flower in the grass is called 'self heal'....I really do feel this place is helping to heal me ...from the outside in.