He said, “Meet me under the window.”

The first week of August, home from our vacation and without unpacking, my husband and I brewed coffee and met in our favorite spot in our home to reconnect with Mississippi. In the light of our dramatic front room window, we settled in to get a view of tree tops and the road far below.

The window has become our daily ritual and is where we sit and talk while we watch the wildlife.

From our theatrical perch on the hill (in our carefully chosen arm chairs), we let the cares of the world slide off into the floor. Sometimes, our reverie is before work, sometimes after, but with our dogs lying at our feet, it is our relaxing place.

Aside from rainy days, most often we see whitetail deer.

In the spring, we get to see momma does and tiny spotted fawn followers. In the late summer the deer seem to move about alone. Occasionally, we see a pointed buck emerge from the trees, but there is always some wildlife to observe if we sit there long enough.

My grandchildren love to get the binoculars and watch the deer along with various bird families, like the red cardinal groups and the smaller bluebirds.

We enjoy the antics of the squirrels who live in the majestic oaks and ash trees. To see them jump from the trees to the bird feeder trying to shake some feed loose is comical. Now and then a box turtle slowly ambles through the yard and we used to see a large brown rabbit family, but I haven’t seen them in a while. The reason why will be shortly apparent.

The loss of the rabbits leads me to the most intriguing animal I have seen.

A red fox about the size of a small to medium dog and colored a yellow orange surprised me one day. The fox simply trotted by on a trail below our window. Another day I saw a smaller fox lying curled up like a cat on the sunny hill behind my house. It was so small that at first I didn’t know what it was. I stood there for some time watching the little fox, but as soon as I turned to do something else, he or she slipped away.

Once, we were drinking coffee in the window when a duck flew into the top of one of the biggest oaks. I was amazed because I had never seen a duck in a tree before and I took a photo with my phone.

Just the other day, my husband was coming home from work and stopped when he saw what looked like turtles at first glance beside the driveway. Upon further inspection, the turtles turned out to be a waddling family foursome of small armadillos led by their larger parent.

Overall, I would say we are awestruck by the ever changing movie of outdoors life.

The window provides hours of entertainment. It is our double height art work that changes with the seasons and weather.

In the spring and summer, the majestic trees are green and lush filling the window, and in the winter, they are gorgeous silhouetted against the sky. However, the trees are the most beautiful to me when they turn brilliant colors. Soon, late in the fall, the leaves will drift to the ground in magical showers.

When the wind picks up, the yellow, deep persimmon, and brown leaves scatter and drift in random piles. I like to run through the piles with my grandchildren. Afterwards, I let them choose leaves to take inside for further inspection.

Thinking about seasonal color changes in the trees and transfixed by the view, we sit in the light of the window wall. Rain or shine, it is breathtaking.

Grateful, Barefoot and writing,

Kim

We are awestruck by the wildlife we can watch through our front room window.