![\"SnowGeese\"](\"http:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/wp-content\/gallery\/Autumn\/SnowGeese.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Snow Geese<\/p>\n
Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last!\u00a0<\/em> \n -Mary Oliver<\/p>\n \n I’ ve been trying for months to find the time and right weather conditions for a trip over the mountain to the Klamath Basin Wildlife Refuges. My calendar and the weather forecast finally aligned today so I said “I don’t care what else I have on my to do list. I’m going.” And I’m glad I did. I came home with over 300 images though I suppose most of them will have to go to the recycle bin. Those critters just refuse to sit still. But I was pleased to see some snow geese at Tule Lake and though I did see a few bald eagles and even got their portraits this image spoke to me most about the joy seeing the birds lift off in a flock as one. I thought about using Mary Oliver’s poem Wild Geese, which is my all time favorite but I thought “No, everyone has heard that one.” So when my google search turned up another Mary Oliver poem about snow geese, I was delighted, as I am delighted to share it with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Snow Geese Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last!\u00a0 What a task to ask\u00a0 of anything, or anyone,\u00a0 yet it is ours,\u00a0 and not by the century or the year, but by the hours.\u00a0 One fall day I heard above me, and above the sting of the wind, a sound I did … Continue reading Day 34 – Snow Geese<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,21,12,6,11,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-fauna","category-klamath-basin","category-nature","category-southern-oregon","category-wildlife"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":925,"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions\/925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeannehoadley.com\/Photo15\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhat a task<\/em>
\nto ask\u00a0<\/em>
\nof anything, or anyone,\u00a0<\/em>
\nyet it is ours,\u00a0<\/em>
\nand not by the century or the year, but by the hours.\u00a0<\/em>
\nOne fall day I heard<\/em>
\nabove me, and above the sting of the wind, a sound<\/em>
\nI did not know, and my look shot upward; it was\u00a0<\/em>
\na flock of snow geese, winging it<\/em>
\nfaster than the ones we usually see,\u00a0<\/em>
\nand, being the color of snow, catching the sun\u00a0<\/em>
\nso they were, in part at least, golden. I\u00a0<\/em>
\nheld my breath<\/em>
\nas we do<\/em>
\nsometimes<\/em>
\nto stop time<\/em>
\nwhen something wonderful<\/em>
\nhas touched us\u00a0<\/em>
\nas with a match,\u00a0<\/em>
\nwhich is lit, and bright,\u00a0<\/em>
\nbut does not hurt<\/em>
\nin the common way,\u00a0<\/em>
\nbut delightfully,\u00a0<\/em>
\nas if delight<\/em>
\nwere the most serious thing<\/em>
\nyou ever felt.\u00a0<\/em>
\nThe geese<\/em>
\nflew on,\u00a0<\/em>
\nI have never seen them again.\u00a0<\/em>
\nMaybe I will, someday, somewhere.<\/em>
\nMaybe I won’t.<\/em>
\nIt doesn’t matter.<\/em>
\nWhat matters<\/em>
\nis that, when I saw them,\u00a0<\/em>
\nI saw them<\/em>
\nas through the veil, secretly, joyfully, clearly.<\/em><\/p>\n