Better and better

I went outside this morning intending to make some photographs of the river as it is today, steaming in the below zero winter air. I envisioned a blog entry called 'Smoking River' or some such. So I put on my boots and walked down to the river's edge. It really was quite beautiful, all the branches and weeds still covered in white from last Sunday's snowfall, and the river really was black and smoking. Or rather steaming I guess, but 'smoking' sounded more evocative to me. I went to work with the camera.




Suddenly I heard some geese honking overhead and looking up, instead of seeing geese, there was a huge bald eagle winging overhead, following the river downstream. I was so stunned for a moment I forgot that not only did I have my camera with me, but that it was actually turned on for once. By the time I'd recovered he was pretty far off but I managed to get this photo of him. I never did see the geese.


This got me to thinking of an old saying that I like: "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." But I usually interpreted it to mean that something bad can happen at any time so you better enjoy yourself in the here and now. Here, however, was an example of being in the moment of a wonderful time and then having something even more wonderful happen. I felt it was a sacred event of some kind.