June 26, 2008

• Groundhogs

  The weather has been beautiful here in Pittsburgh this week (tonight’s thunder storm being the exception.)  I have been trying to exercise more, and went to the local highschool to walk on the track.

  While I walk I usually listen to my I-Pod.  However, after three songs, it ran out of juice. With the music turned off, I found myself lulled into a meditative state as I exercised my body.  I became very mindful of what was going on around me.  I enjoyed the percussive clatter of people laughing and chatting amiably as they worked together.  A father encouraged his teenage son to go one more lap before they went home.  Birdsong floated in the sky above me with a sweet clarity I normally take for granted.

  I think what I found most enjoyable was the groundhogs munching voraciously on clover and small flowers.  There chubby bodies jiggled as they feasted of Mother Earth’s bounty.  If a walker or jogger got too close, they would bounce off in quick hops.  Eventually though, the lure of more green goodies enticed them back near the track.  I don’t think I’d ever taken the time to watch them before.

  It’s so easy for me to get absorbed in a task to the point where I forget to notice the rest of life as it happens around me.  So I dedicate this post to the well-fed groundhogs of Montour High School. 

   

  • 10:17 pm
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