When nature gets close

Any day, any time at any place, the most unexpected can happen. That means, you always have to be prepared.

It was an ordinary day. I was at my home doing nothing when I got a call from my brother. He, his girlfriend and their son were planning a trip to visit me over the day. They were also bringing a mutual friend along. Petter Simonsson. He is the typical bird-watcher with binoculars hanging around his neck, all the time. If you are uncertain of the name or species of a bird or plant, ask him and you will get the answer.

One thing we have in common, Petter and I, is our love for nature, and when you love nature you get a strange calm surrounding you. Calm behavior attracts animals. Something we really got to experience this day.

That afternoon my guests decided to go fishing. Having to close the doors, grab my camera-gear and fishing rod they started to slowly walk down the yard ahead of me. With the door closed and locked I saw that they have stopped 10 meters from the house. They were looking at two squirrels running up and down playing in a tree.

– “Welcome to the countryside” I laughed.

A tad unimpressed, I looked at the squirrels. Thinking to myself “…can we go now…”. Wait a minute! I’m carrying a camera, and there are two cute squirrels playing with each other 1 meter from where I was standing. Am I a complete numpty or what? For god sake, take pictures man!

Our company moved along down the road with just me and Petter left trying to take a great picture of the squirrels. Suddenly the squirrels got more interested in us, than in each other. They moved in closer and closer, making it quite difficult to take great pictures. They were too close for focusing. With a small jump they started to climb our feet. Realizing we were completely harmless we became the new playing ground.

Squirrels are usually shy animals holding their distance to the unknown, so this experience was somewhat unique and very special. At least for us. They were soon sitting on our shoulders scanning the area like two meerkats. Closer than this is hard to get.

After twenty minutes we moved along and left our buddies only to see both of them standing beside each other looking at us with raised head with the expression of “Are you leaving so soon…?”.

Even in surroundings of your home, the most unexpected can happen. Things that you can’t plan ahead. Embrace these moments, because these are the moments that make life worth living.

PS: I’m sorry for the ugly garbage bag, as I was saying, you can’t plan these moments ahead.