[2023-06-08] The miraculous in the common

Today, I received a gift in the mail from a very talented Nova Scotian artist: Maya Bélanger. She sent me a calendar filled with her breathtaking photographs of birds, a photo of a sanderling, and a card with this message:

Bonjour Jennifer,
Just a little present, for no special reason. ☺
Thank you for being such a positive inspiration.
Wishing you a great summer! Be careful with birding...it's very addictive!
Maya B

Back in early April, when I published my post about Rice Lake, the pond beside the Bruce Pit dog park in Ottawa's west end, Maya kindly pointed out that the white bird in my photo was an egret. And she did it in the most gentle way, saying "I can’t help it, I have to mention that there is a beautiful great egret on your picture." I quickly changed my post to identify the bird as an egret rather than a white heron.

I think Maya is right: birding is addictive. With the help of the birding app Merlin, I've been spotting and hearing more birds in the past few weeks than I have in the past many years. Even my husband is getting in on the fun, casually pointing out a mourning dove that was perched high atop a tree this morning as we did our birding round (one walk around Rice Lake), following our dog round (one walk around Bruce Pit).

I am reminded of this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

Maya's photography encourages us to see the miraculous in the common. And it reminds us of the beauty of nature, the value of patience, and the importance of peace.

She may have sent her gift "for no special reason," but it made me feel very special indeed.