I'm big on noticing the little things. Okay, so maybe they're not literally "little" things, but they're the things you might normally overlook in day to day life. There are certain things that I see almost every day, but when I pay special attention to them, I get super happy and feel blessed and all special inside. For example:
Bare trees silhouetted against the sky.
I love a bare tree—I think it's just so beautiful and elegantly skeletal. And to see one with a beautiful sky in the background is even more breathtaking. Obviously this is only a sight for late fall into winter, so I have to take advantage of it while I can. Luckily, with the amount of trees in Washington, this is not a problem!
Washington's fall leaves.Another reason I look forward to the fall—the leaves turning colors. I think Washington has the most beautiful fall leaves because they're all mixed in with our evergreens and you get a whole beautiful rainbow of oranges, browns, yellows, reds, and greens. But then again, I may be biased. ;)
The birds of West Seattle.
I love crows. LOVE them. I think they're the most beautiful bird ever. Probably because I just love all-black animals (again, I might be biased, having two all-black cats). But I also love hearing their caws. I also love seagulls—just seeing and/or hearing one makes me feel so giddy that I live this close to the Puget Sound. And blue jays—man are they pretty! Technically, this bird pictured is a Steller's Jay and I think that's the kind I see in my back yard, but then again, I know absolutely nothing about birds, so I could be wrong. All I know is that they're blue and they look like that little guy. I get to see all three of these kinds of birds quite frequently in West Seattle and I love it every time my attention is called to one of them.
Squirrels.
Man, are these little guys cute! Once, there was a little squirrel running about the apartment complex I lived in. On a whim, I called him over to me, like you would a cat or dog—and he totally came! Right up to my foot! And then proceeded to climb up my pants leg. I thought this was pretty awesome until I started to wonder if he would keep climbing up me and scratch my eyes out and give me rabies. So I ran. He still kept a hold on my pants. So I shook him off. But then I felt really bad because I was sure he didn't mean any harm. I went back to where he was and called him over again. He gingerly came towards me, but then I got freaked out again and ran away. And then I called him back and he started to come again. And then I got scared and ran away again. He stopped coming after that—no matter how I called to him. Sigh. Anyway, despite my fear of getting my eyes scratched out with rabies infested claws, I still love squirrels and thoroughly enjoy it whenever I see them. Seriously—so cute!
Daffodils.
My favorite flower ever! This one I have to wait for winter/spring to see, but it's worth the wait. They're just so sunny and beautiful! Every year when I first see daffodils being sold at Trader Joe's, I get the happies. Maybe I'm biased towards daffodils because I'm from Puyallup and we had the whole Daffodil Festival and Daffodil Parade (and my grandmother was a Daffodil Princess back in the day!). But they really are a beautiful flower and it makes me so happy when they're in bloom.
Wow, I just noticed that all of these "little" things are found in nature. Yet, I would never ever consider myself a nature person. It just goes to show you how the great outdoors can really feed your soul. And I leave you with a picture of two of my favorite things—a murder of crows in a bare tree silhouetted against the sky:
