Gratefulness

     Regardless that we turned the clocks ahead an hour, today began like any other Monday morning.  My alarm went off waking me from a sound sleep. The morning was chilly and the chilliness of the rest of the bed, as I stretched, did not go unnoticed.  I kept telling myself that I should get up and on the treadmill for my 30 minute walk, but the warmth I had carved out  was too comforting to leave. I drifted in and out of light sleep until my daughter walked into the room to ask a question. Drifting off again, I was brought out of my dreamlike state to the sound of the kids leaving for school... 7:30 AM okay I am up!

Going through my morning routine, I practiced something I re-learned in a workshop this weekend.  Affirmations.. . I'm sure you know them...  "I am lovable, just the way I am"... " but mine are going more like this, "All good things come to me" and "I deserve a great job, great abundance of wealth, health and love'  :)
I am blessed to have the best commute around. I get to drive 30 minutes along the back roads and by ways to work each morning and home in the afternoons.  In the fall, the leaves are gorgeous...

I pass by this pond each morning on my commute. Sometimes a pair of swans complete the scene.

This morning as I ventured along singing to my favorite songs, I rounded a bend and had to stop the car pretty quick.  There, crossing the road were birds that looked like small stone aged dinosaurs.  Wild Turkeys!  There were a whole... colony? pack? gang?  what do you call a group of Turkeys??  ... checking wiki.."A group of turkeys is called a rafter, although a gang is also an acceptable name. They have also alternately been called a gobble, although this definition is colloquial and does not appear in dictionaries." 
Okay...I like gang... given spray paint cans they might have been out tagging!!

Big man taking on the cars...

There were 2 large males with a harem of sorts. The males took up the back herding the females across the road. One male would venture out into the road and puff himself up as if telling the cars "Back off! I'm moving my ladies!!"

the ladies? or more males?

Once the ladies were safely across the road, the male turkeys settled themselves into keeping at the rear.  The females pecked along seemingly oblivious to anything going on... their safe keepers on guard.  As I approached with my camera, the males would stop, raise their heads and sing out a warning to me "Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble" !!  Stay back, they warned. 

One large male decided I was a bit of a threat with my zoom lens pointing right at him. Maybe he thought it was Thanksgiving and I was there to have him for dinner! He puffed himself into as big a 'self' as he could be! 

around the wishing well he came puffing himself up his feathers; sounding like
a hand fan being flicked open. 

He puffed himself up bigger and began to strut back and forth

and bigger  .....

and bigger still!! I really didn't think he could have appeared any bigger!! He looks like he belongs on
a "Bells" turkey seasoning box!

I finished shooting photos as he ushered his gang into the back yard. I realized then that I needed to get back into my car and finish up my commute.

Thinking back on this morning I am so very grateful for this gift of beauty that graced my morning fostering into motion appreciation at each turn of the day. I looked up animal symbolism when I came home and found this... "When the turkey visits us it is a sign that we must be mindful of the blessings bestowed upon us each day. Further, it is a message to express our strength and brilliance - it's time to show our own plumage and reveal true selves." Goes well the the message I took away from my workshop and one I need to recall when I'm forgetting to be grateful for the small things.