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pegkerrThere's a fine word that I've loved for years: 'crepuscular.' It means of, resembling, or relating to twilight. I learned it when I was ten years old, and I've remembered it ever since.
When I posted on Facebook that I had gone for a crepuscular walk (and posted some pictures), my former high school English teacher admitted that I'd sent him to the dictionary (and he got some teasing as a result).
I went on a walk last year in the same area, the Roberts Bird Sanctuary, that also prompted that week's collage. That walk last year was in October, and the light was crisp and brilliant, painting everything with a gilded edge.
This year, the light was softer and darker, muted and autumnal, due to the lateness of the afternoon and the lowering clouds. Entirely dissimilar, but again, it cast a magical feeling on me, although of a different sort of feeling.
I had been walking about fifteen minutes through the forest when I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of a deer, just off the path, barely ten feet away. It was splendidly camouflaged by the coloring of the leaves all around. It wasn't fussed by my presence in the least but continued unhurriedly stripping leaves off the nearby shrubs to eat. Eventually, it delicately lowered itself to the forest floor to rest and looked at me with tranquil ease.
I heard (but could not see) the hooting of a pair of great horned owls nearby.
I passed a stone bench, surrounded by fallen leaves. It felt as though something invisible sat upon it, calmly watching me. Something fae.
In the dimming light, the crimson leaves of the nearby shrubs seemed to glow.
Further on, I saw several deer bounding across the path. And when I finally emerged from the sanctuary, I saw another group of three deer, serenely eating right beside the path on the way back to my car.
I have carried that little ember of dark tranquility inside me ever since.
Background: semi-transparent image of leaves on the ground. Foreground lower left: a large rock carved with the words "Roberts Bird Sanctuary in Memory of Thomas Sadler Roberts." Foreground lower right: a shrub with leaves turned a brilliant crimson. Behind the rock and shrub: a stone bench. Behind that, center, a deer reclining on a forest floor, looking at the viewer. Behind the deer, bare autumnal branches stretch into the 'sky' (the fallen leaf background). A semi-transparent great horned owl is superimposed over the bare branches, looking at the viewer.
Crepuscular
Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.
When I posted on Facebook that I had gone for a crepuscular walk (and posted some pictures), my former high school English teacher admitted that I'd sent him to the dictionary (and he got some teasing as a result).
I went on a walk last year in the same area, the Roberts Bird Sanctuary, that also prompted that week's collage. That walk last year was in October, and the light was crisp and brilliant, painting everything with a gilded edge.
This year, the light was softer and darker, muted and autumnal, due to the lateness of the afternoon and the lowering clouds. Entirely dissimilar, but again, it cast a magical feeling on me, although of a different sort of feeling.
I had been walking about fifteen minutes through the forest when I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of a deer, just off the path, barely ten feet away. It was splendidly camouflaged by the coloring of the leaves all around. It wasn't fussed by my presence in the least but continued unhurriedly stripping leaves off the nearby shrubs to eat. Eventually, it delicately lowered itself to the forest floor to rest and looked at me with tranquil ease.
I heard (but could not see) the hooting of a pair of great horned owls nearby.
I passed a stone bench, surrounded by fallen leaves. It felt as though something invisible sat upon it, calmly watching me. Something fae.
In the dimming light, the crimson leaves of the nearby shrubs seemed to glow.
Further on, I saw several deer bounding across the path. And when I finally emerged from the sanctuary, I saw another group of three deer, serenely eating right beside the path on the way back to my car.
I have carried that little ember of dark tranquility inside me ever since.
Background: semi-transparent image of leaves on the ground. Foreground lower left: a large rock carved with the words "Roberts Bird Sanctuary in Memory of Thomas Sadler Roberts." Foreground lower right: a shrub with leaves turned a brilliant crimson. Behind the rock and shrub: a stone bench. Behind that, center, a deer reclining on a forest floor, looking at the viewer. Behind the deer, bare autumnal branches stretch into the 'sky' (the fallen leaf background). A semi-transparent great horned owl is superimposed over the bare branches, looking at the viewer.
Click here to see the 2023 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2022 52 Card Project gallery.
Click here to see the 2021 52 Card Project gallery.
"crepuscular"
Date: 2023-11-10 07:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-11-10 08:45 pm (UTC)And wow. I have seen my share of truly insouciant deer, but none of them has ever just lain down while looking at me.
I've seldom been to the bird sanctuary in the fall; in the spring it is packed with migrants of all sorts, both arriving summer residents and creatures just passing through. It's a treasure of a place.
P.