I got a lovely note from my friend Julie, aka Slipper Sistah, the other day.  Julie is observant of the natural world and sees things many miss.  She chronicles her observations and today, I’m pleased that she’s given me permission to share something she wrote.  Without further ado, from somewhere along the Leaf Lane, is a guest blog by Julie Footer:

I drove by your place today; I was going to make a stop (Julie’s Home Hug Delivery) but you were away.  I saw an eagle just the other side of the ridge from your place and I pulled over to watch it.  What an amazing creature!  Spiraling up and up and up without flapping its wings, and I thought “well, maybe going in circles over and over again isn’t really as bad as I had thought.  It looks like it can be a lot more useful than I realized as long as it is continuously bringing me closer to heaven.”  As I was thinking this, the eagle was going further, and further away, riding the air currents drawing it westward.  Then, it changed directions.  Instead of spiraling clockwise it started spiraling counter-clockwise and it began drifting closer towards me.  Suddenly, it stopped circling and came directly towards me in a straight line.  In the beginning of the bird’s descent, it was up so high and so far off, I was having a hard time seeing it.  When it reached where I was, it was probably five hundred feet above me, soaring directly above my head.  Then, it headed straight off into the north and was lifted up by the winds, until I could see it no more.

 Wow! 

It never even flapped its wings once the whole time and it was a massive bird.  Gleaming bright white, its head and tail glowed in the sunlight.

I chose to go that way because I was going to stop by your place and drop off a hug, and instead, I got a special hug from God. 

Kind of neat, I think.

(Julie Footer, a taxidermy assistant for the last 27 years, is a former rebel, a shoe and slipper stitcher, and a naturalist.  She lives in Lewiston, Maine and is perfecting the art of cooking and living with Moxie.)