Hummingbird Garden

Spending an hour or two pulling up weeds, and inspecting the growth of the roses has a very calming effect. For a couple hours, I can completely submerge myself in the activity at hand and daydream a little. All the while, I’m strangely aware that the connection I make with the earth is grounding and satisfying. The earth and I work together. I’m not fighting traffic, or crowds, or schedules. I’m not worrying about the next thing I have to do, and where I’ll find the time.

One morning, while adjusting the sprinkler in the rose bed, I saw a hummingbird start to follow the arc of the water; back and forth, and back and forth. I was fascinated with this behavior, as I had no idea what it was doing. Back and forth it went, staying perfectly inside the spray of the water. Next, I watched it land on a wet rose leaf, where it proceeded to bathe itself by rubbing its tiny body across the wet leaf. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I’ve watched a lot of Discovery Channel programs, but this was amazing.

After its bath in the rosebush, this little creature flew up to a branch on the lilac tree and preened and flap-dried its wings for fifteen minutes. Then, I saw its mate fly by, and off the two of them left. This captivating little event probably lasted about twenty-five minutes. But it was twenty-five minutes of my life where my mind slowed down. I was fully present in the moment, and completely focused on a little creature happy to call my garden its home. That week I told everyone I knew about the hummingbird bath. Every time I told the story, my heart lightened a little. I felt grateful for those twenty-five minutes in my garden, focused and watching with childlike wonderment, a bird in a bath.

Photo courtesy of Travis Haney