Friday, December 09, 2005

Deerly Beloved

I'd be very surprised if anyone were to say they were very surprised that I was publishing more deer photos today. I mean to say, you knew that I would, right? Particularly those who were with me through the plethora of chickadee postings last winter. I'll post fewer photos today, however, and I'll post them larger — for your viewing pleasure, naturally. I'll just toss them in here and there while I try to think of important things to say. Like now ...



What I can iterate is this: that having critter encounters in the wild can be terribly delightful! I'm sure that some encounters could prove to be otherwise, but, as you understand, I'm babbling within a certain context, so I know that you'll not be overly precise with me.


In any event , I have seen deer in the zoo and tend to look past them to the more exotic creatures, but here I find the deer, themselves, exotic. In a zoo, the animals have to be there; they have no choice. Here, they have made choices of sorts: the choice to be curious, the choice to accept our offerings. But they're limited too, for if they were to wander from the park, which is large enough for ample roaming by the way, they would be lost in suburbia and severely endangered in heavy traffic.


Like us, they have ended up where they have ended up. It isn't what they or what nature planned, but they have adapted, just as we have. Like us, they are not totally footloose and fancy free. They can't run the unending forest as they were meant to do, but they can still run through their sizeable allotment.



None of us have complete control of our destinies, just of our inner selves — our attitudes. We can make the best of where we are with what we are given, or we can bemoan our lots by longing to dwell in a warmer climate, or pining to be more affluent, or desiring to have more time or more money or both to travel to exotic locations. Oh, we're all human and subject to envy and discontent, but, because we are human, we also have the wherewithal to direct our thoughts to a great degree. Most of us can, most of the time, choose to direct our moods towards happiness, contentment, and joy



The end ... so to speak. Cute ends too, eh?


 

12 comments:

methatiam said...

Beautifully shot photos!

Meadow said...

They are very beautiful.

Ginger said...

Amazing photos.

Are you a gardener perchance? My guess is they won't look so amazing to you once they eat all your little green babies....

Rainypete said...

I am so jealous. Our city has driven everything but the chipmunks and the squirrels deep into the bush. The wildest thing that comes around our house is the mailman, and he's kinda creepy.

mreddie said...

Our wild life here consists of a flock of very melodious (?) crows, a field rat or two, a few squirrels and a plethora of birds.

I did find deer tracks a while back but never saw what left them.

Good post, especially the end(s). :) ec

Bonita said...

I met up with a bobcat once, while walking in the woods as a kid. Wish I'd had a camera, as no one believed me, and had I a camera at the time, I would have been running too fast to take a picture.

I've never seen a photo of the tails down like that - usually they are waving.

Anonymous said...

Your photos are fantastic (as were your daughter's). How lucky to be able to enjoy their company and trust. We all need to learn to appreciate the wild creatures whose land we have appropriated for our own purposes.

Matthew May said...

Wow, great photographs!

Nice shots :)

Anonymous said...

How soft and gentle their eyes are. Wonderful photos!

Dora said...

I remember when we lived in our other house how we used to sit on the deck at dusk and watch the herd under out chestnut trees in the backyard.
The herd loved our property so much that we had to install an eight foot electric fence around our garden/fruit tree areas.
I've counted as many as 17 deer at a time in that area eating the discarded items that we tossed over the fence so they could eat.
I've seen the footprints here but not the animal.

They *are* beautiful creatures, aren't they?

Gina said...

I absolutely love the fact that the park we have below us is a "wild" park, and a wildlife corridor as well.

We have coyotes, bobcats, quail, squirrels, bunnies, and all sorts of other wild creatures.

And we are smack dab in the middle of suburbia! But it also makes me sad that their habitats are slowly being taken away. Our county is trying to establish permanent wildlife corridors. It's a start, anyway.

Madcap said...

I LOVE that last photo. I think you could make cards out of it!