Nature's Sound

Early last evening I turned the television off with all of its poppycock trivia, negative stories and nearly mesmeric mindless commercials and just listened with our windows open.

What a cacophony of nature’s conversations. The tree frogs chattered back and forth. The Crichets chirped to their own and a number of other tiny creatures acknowledged another’s presence with sounds I did not recognize.

Then, as if a mute button was pushed, all sound stopped.

I listened intently and there in the distance was the sound of muffled thunder. A storm cell was moving my way. Our way, I should say.  The creatures of the vocal night knew way before I did that something was coming, something was changing the evening dynamic and they were attuned to its presence.

I vowed to listen more often. What a treat. What a doorway into the kingdom of nature. It was an encyclopedia of sound and even though I knew it was there for I had heard it several times before, I’d forgotten until I turned the mechanical sound off.