Over the years I have been many places and I have been able to see many wondrous things. 

Flaming Gorge reservoir for example, in Green River Wyoming. It is an amazing 110 mile long, steeply banked reservoir whose sides burn red with rusted iron within the soil. It is a vast and beautiful place!

 I have been in almost every major city in our country and marveled at the massive amounts of concrete and humanity that fill such a small area! 

On our family farm, we have an old pine tree that has a trunk that is so big it would take three or more people linking arms to surround the tree! A true giant of a tree that I have been amazed with since my youth! 

I have driven through the Southwest desert lands and I was awestruck at the vastness and ongoing miles of desert that stretched as far as I could see. 

You see I, like many of you, seem to be amazed and impressed by “big” things.  Things that are larger than normal, larger than life, the unusual I guess you would say! 

 If you followed our first trip this year that Lisa and I took, I shared a picture of Lisa standing in front of a HUGE rock.  This was probably the largest single rock I have ever seen! Just amazing! 

 The ground was littered with rocks of all sizes, shapes, and colors,  yet what got my attention was the one rock that wasn’t like the others.  The “exceptional” one in the area. 

Ordinary usually takes a back seat to the unusual in my world.  I tend to appreciate things that, for whatever reason, are exceptional or remarkable.  Usually small doesn’t make the cut!

The tree that beats the odds and outlasts all of its neighbors to grow to exceptional size, now that’s something to admire!  The canyon that was carved over the passing of time and yes even the huge rock that was most likely deposited there by the last glacier that covered the area. These are the things that normally get my attention and admiration.

Until this last trip.  

As I stood on the rocky outcrop over 100 feet from the ocean below,  I was admiring the massive cliffs to both my left and my right ( of course I was).  The ocean stretched out in front of me until the curvature of the earth pulled it from my view.  Truly a scene to marvel and wonder at! And I was lost in the moment!

As I looked down to take a step to the left so I could get a better footing, something caught my eye.

A small flash of green at the bottom of a crevis on the rock outcrop I was standing on.  As I looked closer I realized there was a small plant in there. “Must have blown in on the wind and landed in the crack”, I thought to myself. Or a seagull dropped it there.  I got down to look at the plant expecting to see something loose but no, this little guy was GROWING here! Where was the soil?  I couldn’t see any!  All I saw was rock and life refusing to give up.  

I was amazed at the tenacity of this little plant.  Somehow it is finding a way to survive on a rocky outcrop with no visible soil to feed its roots.  Nothing for it to flourish in and yet there it was, finding a way to survive when the odds are so stacked against it!

Isn’t the fight for life this little guy is making worth as much of my admiration as the massive pine who lives on the fertile soil of our farm? 

 Is the fact that this plant is surviving in what seems like impossible circumstances just as wondrous as a big rock deposited by a glacier about 10,000 years ago?

I think so!  

 I need to slow down and marvel at the small treasures around me. Treasures that I miss every day!  I need to stop focusing only on the things that jump out at me and “LOOK” for what wonders are all around me. If you look for what is amazing around you verses simply letting it jump out at you,  you will find there is more out there to both see and appreciate. 

I wonder if the little guy will make it?

Probably not,  but it won’t be from a lack of effort that’s for sure!

Hello Katherine !

 Hello Katherine Alice, 

I had over 7 months to prepare for her arrival and yet the emotions that came over me while I held her for the first time were far beyond what I expected!   How can you love someone so much before you even meet her?  Before she even takes her first breath, she becomes one of the most important people in your life! Just doesn’t make sense! But sure enough its true!

From the moment I knew she was coming into my life I have been excited to finally meet her. For me it’s always an anxious time when you meet someone new. Will you like them; will they like you? Will they be really annoying and drive you crazy? Some want to be friends with you but the feeling isn’t mutual and vice versa.  So meeting folks for the first time can be an interesting adventure for sure. 

With her the expectation was even higher!  I have a role to play in her life. I am “Grampa Smith”! Wait what??  How in the world do I do that?!?!  One minute I’m an old guy skating through life and the next minute I have an entirely new role to play?!  How do I know how to be a Grampa? Where is the Grampa manual? What do I do? What don’t I do?  

Will I be a good Grampa, or will I be the one kids run from and hide at every visit clinging to their parents’ leg for support and protection?  Will I have a candy in my pocket especially for her every time I see her or will I yell at her to “get off the lawn I just planted grass seeds there “? 

All I know about being a Gramp is what I know from my own Gramp...….  Good Lord how can I live up to that?!

From the orange and cheese parties he used to have with us kids (when I know he had a thousand other things he needed to do on the farm) to the constant interest in our lives shown by the simple questions he would ask each time he saw us. My gramp was always a positive force in my life! 

Never judgmental, always supportive and there when we needed him as if quietly waiting for the call to action. From a lap to sit in on a rainy day as a child, to a tow out of a snowbank on a winter day as a teen. Gramp was always there when I needed him.

Ok, I can do this!  All I have to do is think back and say “what would gramp do “and I will surely be able to ace this gramp thing!

 That reminds me I need to stock up on candy, oranges and cheese!  I wonder what kind of candy she will like ? I better just stock up on them all just to be sure !

 Are you a picture person or a video person? 

Now keep in mind I just made this up as I sit here so my definition and explanations are my own and since I made it up, I can define it however I want. 

Picture people are folks who are always occupied. Lisa is a picture person. She HAS to be always doing something. I don’t mean just working or puttering but even when she sits and relaxes, she has to be doing something.  Reading a book, looking at Facebook, watching Tv,  her mind seems to require immediate stimulation and she always feeds it with something.

I on the other hand am a video person.  I can sit with nothing but my thoughts for long periods of time.  I can sit outside and simply take in what’s going on around me.  I don’t need a book, no tv, not even a radio is needed.  I can just sit there and observe the world around me and be alone with my thoughts. As I give the specific example coming up it may be more apparent as to what I am trying to say.

If you look at the picture attached you will see a lovely view from our Campsite.  There is a stream flowing by, a nice grassy area were we often sit and woods beyond the brook.  If you look closely you can see a couple ducks sitting on the tree that has fallen into the water.  It’s a lovely spot and for many that is the extent of what they get from this “Picture”,  even if they are sitting right here.  Their mind see’s the immediate picture in front of them and then they are off with other activities, be they mental or physical.  Once they have absorbed the “picture” they see in front of them they move on.  They get the highlights of any situation.  Picture people take in the immediate offering that lies in front of them and as soon as they have taken in what the “picture” has to offer their minds are off to other things.

Video people on the other hand slow down. We slow way down and take in so much that picture people don’t see. 

Next is an account of what I saw while sitting in the same spot looking at this exact view for almost 3 hours today while Lisa read her book.

After only a few moments of sitting still the world around began to come alive with movement and life. At first everything does seem static and picture like when you first look at it.  But just wait and focus on what’s going on around and soon life begins the show. 

 I noticed on the ground below me a trail of black ants working diligently, in line, doing whatever it is that ants do. Do they even know I’m here? Probably not. 

 Soon I started noticing movement in the air around the brook. Bugs of all sizes and shapes were fluttering over and around the stream. Soon I noticed quick, small dimples on the water, but I could not see what was causing them. To small to be fish , yet clearly rings being placed randomly across the waters surface.  After a couple minutes I realized the dimples were caused by dragon flies. Dragon flies dipping their tails in the water as they laid their eggs ensuring the next generation would follow. This activity happens often all summer long.  How many folks have actually taken the time to see the show?

While watching the dragon flies, my eyes catch a small disturbance on the opposite shore of the stream. Watching closely, I noticed a momma Duck with 8 babies silently gliding along the opposite shore weaving in and out of the branches , hoping to escape detection.

As I sat there a little while longer, I heard the hum of a set of hummingbird wings.  Slowly looking up I noticed the fragile bird eating from a feeder just a few feet from my head.

Next came the croak of a big bull frog. Couldn’t see in at first but his resounding croak let me know he was close by. Soon he was slowly swimming beside the shore of our lot and crawled up on the bank to sun himself right in front of me as I quietly watched.

Again, after sitting there silent for a while longer I started to notice all the birds fluttering around in the trees. There was a black bird who would often fly from one side of the stream to the other. Mid-stream he would drop something white into the water?  Not sure what that was but he did it at least 5 times that I saw. Very strange.  Clearly, he had a reason only he knows.

When you are sitting still and focusing solely on the life around you it’s amazing what you can see and hear.  I heard a noise in the tree above me and it was a Nuthatch or as we call them in Maine, ass ups, for the obvious reason they are always on the tree with their head down and their ass up. The small bird was hopping around head down like Nut Hatches do.  Sitting silent I could actually hear the sound of his claws gripping the bark on the tree as he hopped from spot to spot.  Keep in mind this bird weighs ounces!

I am often visited by a beaver who always swims the other shore hoping to escape my view. Today I haven’t noticed him, hopefully he will make a visit.

Look, there is a large black beetle making his way under my chair.  Where is he going?  What mission is he on I wonder, looks like he may be carrying something but I’m not sure.  

Are you a picture person or a video person?  Do you see a quick snapshot of life as it passes you by and then on to another attraction, or do you take the time to savior the moments and truly see the world around you and ALL it is trying to show you?  If you are a picture person, I challenge you to sit quietly, with no distractions and really see what’s going on around you.  I assure you that you will be amazed at what you are missing!  There is a show always going on right outside of your attention. Stop long enough to take it in. You won’t be disappointed!

Update. As I am proofing this my friend the beaver made his appearance and silently made his way long the bank. Thank you, sir!