Nature Connection: A New Day Dawn

These days I get up in the dark, around 4 a.m. This is when the old dog needs to go out, and because he’s the best boy ever I don’t begrudge him the early hour. The sky is still dark as midnight at this time in late December and on a clear night, full of stars. Over the course of a month, I have watched the moon go through her phases and listened for the calls of owls, though mostly what I hear is the wind whispering through the dark shadows of branches.

The dog cannot walk as he once did. He drags himself about while sniffing for the rabbits that inhabit the yard and lifts his snout into the air to follow whatever other intriguing scent is blowing by. His eyes and ears are failing him as well as his legs, and as I watch him navigate his shrinking world with dignity and good humor, I realize I’m being given a lesson in graceful aging. How lucky I am to share the planet with this wise old dog, even if his time, like that of all dogs, is far too short.

As the morning begins to lighten, I head for the beach to walk and watch the sunrise. The roads are quiet, not a creature seems to be stirring, though I know this is the time of day preferred by so many animals, large and small. They silently blend into the shadows as they go about their business of either hunting prey or avoiding being hunted as prey.

I turn onto the long road leading to the beach and keep watch for coyotes and deer as I’ve seen both here in the past. On this day the road remains empty, and when I reach the parking lot, it is completely empty as well. I step out of the car just as the sun rises over a distant dune.

The dunes are covered with mist and the parking lot is slick with barely melted frost. A few crows fly over the crests of dunes far away, and a lone gull gives a prolonged cry as it flies overhead.

The beach is deserted except for a few gulls and crows. The tide is receding, leaving glistening rocks behind. A few snags of seaweed add some color here and there, but the color scheme on this December morning is one of dull grays and browns. Even the sea is a dull blue gray. The sky, however, is a subdued pink tinged with lavender and gray, streaked with tiny lines of gold as the sun continues to rise. The dune grasses shine almost yellow in the light, though as the sun rises they will settle down once again to their more modest golden hue.

The outgoing tide has left several large sandbars close to the shore. A few ring-billed gulls are working the area between the bars and the shore by moving their feet around, stirring up the sand. They are watching for small creatures they can gobble up, and when they are successful they attract a few friends to do the same.

A black-backed gull is tearing apart and eating a large crab farther down the beach. As I get closer the gull grabs the crab and carries it farther away. I tell the gull I’m not interested in stealing its breakfast, but it doesn’t care. It scarfs it up as quickly as it can before flying off.

I come across deer tracks going one way and coyote tracks going the other. I’m guessing they passed through at different times. There are crow tracks and even turkey tracks. Turkeys like this particular beach and sometimes I see the whole flock, though not on this day.

In the water are a few loons and a trio of grebes that dive and surface as they move along parallel to the shore. I stop to watch them for a while, mesmerized by their synchronization.

As I stand looking out over the serene water, I watch the colors slowly change. The sun is a bit higher now, well over the dunes and the light is spreading over the sand and water. What is going on under the water as I watch, I wonder. It’s so peaceful and calm and yet I know there is activity I can’t see under the surface. Farther out a raft of eider ducks is mumbling and dining, so I know there are shellfish, particularly mussels, out there. The loons and grebes are fishing, and the gulls are finding shellfish and crabs close to shore still.

The human world feels crazy right now, even threatening and scary, but here on the beach as the sun ushers in a brand-new day with soft light and calming colors, it is so peaceful that it is hard to believe there is a different reality just on the other side of the dunes and marsh where the road winds through the landscape and talking heads show up on screens.

As the year winds down and a new one waits in the wings, I hope we can remember the peace that nature affords and treat her with the respect she deserves. Yes, the world seems nuts, but we can breathe deeply and bring some sanity to the table. All we have to do is show up, roll up our sleeves, and do the work we want to see done.

If the world is getting you down, go watch the sun rise at the beach. A new day dawns every day and with it always dawns hope.