This morning I watched an exercise workout while sitting in my car waiting for it to warm up. It wasn’t on my phone or my tablet. It was in the arborvitae that line the far end of my back yard.
A dark figure caught my eye as it moved from behind the thick branches to a more visible limb. I wasn’t sure what it was because it was being back lit by the morning sunlight. It wasn’t until I saw a bushy tail flash by did I realize it was a squirrel. Not just one, but two squirrels.
They were scampering through the arborvitae like it was a jungle gym at the playground – quickly moving from branch to branch, from being in plain sight to disappearing in a flash. They were certainly getting their cardio in this morning.
Most mornings I just jump in the car and go, but today my back windshield was icy causing me to take some extra time. Normally, I would jump on my phone and scroll in situations like this. I am glad that for whatever reason, I took notice. It made me think about how much I must be missing in nature, in the world around me, in life in general because I am always in such a rush. What other gifts are awaiting me? Time to slow down and notice.
Rita DiCarne 
I love watching squirrels. I have a fantastic squirrel picture, and now I think I know what I’ll write about tomorrow. Once you start thinking about trying to slow down and notice more about nature, I think the more likely you will do just that.
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I loved the way you began this post and then surprised us deftly leading to the fact that it was squirrels exercising. I could envision them playing and doing their “morning exercise.” Last week, I wrote a poem about rain because I decided not to turn on the car radio and just see where the silence took me. If I had not made a conscious effort to seek silence, I would not have received the inspiration for that poem. This post reminded me of that experience. What are we missing when we allow ourselves to constantly rush and be distracted? I aim to find out. Well-crafted slice, Rita
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Thank you. I am trying to make an effort to notice more.
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Squirrels are interesting to watch. We have two that do acrobatics on our bird feeders to get at the bird seed.
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Your description of the squirrels provided great imagery. You make a great point about taking notice-not just squirrels. However, I have started to take more interest in squirrels lately, too. They seem to be all over the place and their physical manuevers seem to defy gravity.
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Defy gravity is right!
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