Kelly: Life's beauty there for the taking

During a recent sleepless night, a John Denver song played softly on the radio while I tried to doze. In today’s musical market, it isn’t always easy to listen to lyrics, or to appreciate their message or their imagery. But one of the Denver phrases drew a vividly special picture for me.

“I know he’d be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly.” Those words, from the “Rocky Mountain High” song and lyrics written by Denver (together with Mike Taylor) reminded me of the natural beauty of the coastal area we call “home.” How many times have I seen the Eastpoint eagles soar over the highway and water’s edge, or wait patiently in the watching tree for me to pass?

The sight of them never fails to bring me joy. And I remember other times and places where I have seen far-distant cousins of these local neighbors. In Alaska, we were told to watch through the tour bus windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of a far-distant brown blob with a Styrofoam cup-sized white head perched in a tree. We were never sure we saw anything! “Our” Eastpoint eagles are so near that viewing is not a challenge but a frequent privilege of that route!

Along the upper Mississippi River between Wisconsin and Minnesota, we have seen more than two dozen mature and young eagles at one time, sitting atop melting ice floes feeding in spring. We had traveled north to spend Easter with old friends. We left our southwest Wisconsin home after closing our restaurant business, and traveled through the night. It was just daybreak when we turned a curve and witnessed the truly awesome spectacle of the huge flock on the icy water. I’ll carry that spectacular memory with me forever.

And then there was yesterday’s story, told by a Carrabelle friend, of looking out past her front porch to see four bears walking together down the road in front of her home. Four bears! What a visual gift it was. Our bear sightings on that Alaska trip were at great long distances instead. Too often we see such creatures as nuisances, getting into garbage or bird food we have made too easily available for a bruin smorgasbord. But my friend saw them for the vision of nature that they were, parading by for her eyes only.

Have you seen dolphins along our shorelines break water and jump for joy or just to display their presence? Have you seen sharks chase schools of fleeing fish? The egrets, herons, cranes and shorebirds that call our sands home bring color and variety and interest for real birdwatchers as well as for we amateurs who just watch them hunt and parade to their march cadence!

Fox families live near our Carrabelle home, and although we chose not to feed them, they continue to visit our yard as if to make sure we haven’t changed our philosophy. And they are reminders of encroachment into territories that were once exclusive to the wildlife, but where now homes and people grow instead.

Here in our Wisconsin yard, deer are frequent visitors, and by the color of their coats, we acknowledge the changing of the seasons. The beautiful tawny red of summer has given way to the dull dun of grey brown now, and we all know the chills of night lead into the snows of winter.

And so, beauty is there for the visual taking, wherever we find ourselves in life and passing through. Indeed, I would be poorer had I not seen an eagle fly. Thanks for the reminder, John!

Mel Kelly is a frequent contributor to the Apalachicola and Carrabelle Times.