Mature eagles lounge in the south facing woods.
After a tumultuous three days this day dawned calm and turned clear. A deep low pressure system had sat over Iowa all weekend, covering it with thick, grey clouds that ushered in heavy rains. These swept down roads, filled streams and flushed out ice creating dams along Indian Creek.
Indian Creek at 29th St Dr SE
Rain yielded to tremendous winds and a sudden rise in pressure from, at one point when I checked, about 998 millibars of pressure at the center of the Low to 1018 with higher pressures building behind. A twenty millibar rise in less than 24 hours. The winds, sustained at 35 miles per hour and gusting to 48 as per the TV report, raged for 28 hours. That’s 900 miles of wind coursing over Iowa as the Low pressure shoved east and north into Canada. Little wonder I was lost in alternative universes and dimensions. It’s akin to riding an elevator up quickly from ground floor to top – the body has minimal chance to adjust. Usually, the ears feel this first.
But, today, the Prairie Labyrinth drew me. An Eagle winged over as I drove down 44th St. SE. First sound I heard was the cacophony of the crows along the Cedar River harassing the eagles. Then, came the sweet “Wheeta, Wheeta, Wheeta!” of a Cardinal. In the cornflower blue sky numerous eagles soared singly or danced duets, while in the south facing trees along woods’ edge lounged two mature eagles.
As I walked, I thought about the people I had seen or talked with today and wonder how they “do it.” How do they make their lives work? One woman has over $1,000 (don’t know time frame) in medicines for kidney transplant. A man on a bicycle was recovering aluminum cans from the roadside ditch.
Ice and Earth
In the labyrinth the four elements merged. Earth – frozen ground yielding to the power of the sun. A deep, rich chocolate and full of nutrients. Air – clear, clean, crisp, with high cirrus clouds reflecting the moisture above. Raptors catching the thermals of the powerful sun. Fire – the sun and the stubble from last autumn’s burn. Water – Ice. Cold. Colorful. Changing states. Distance. Remote. Removed. Binds. Permeates. Decays. Nourishes.
Prairie grasses bound by ice.
Now to figure out “my truth.”
Goldenrod bends to the sun
1080 Labyrinth 