LAST NIGHT IT HAPPENED: I sit in my one stuffed, blue chair facing Pioneer Square and Elliot Bay, Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains...the moon has not come up and darkness falls over a city lit up brightly...when it happens! Smith Tower, circa 1914, historic lovely skyscraper - the only one between my window and Elliot Bay - is standing guard over downtown when Mystery flutters from it, something BIG, something with broad wings; wings dark except for the Celestial Glow cast upon them from City Lights, they GLOW, THEY GLOW, the bird is soon joined by another then another!
WHAT?
WHAT?
WHAT?
Peregrine falcons have been known to nest in Smith Tower but falcons these are not! Broad, glistening wings stretch into the night sky, short stumpy full-bodies between them, they are OWLS! How can this be?
More emerge, until five or so soar acrobatically between the tower, above lower buildings, and I am stunned: how can so many owls just appear like this? How can they get along, they are so territorial? Why aren't they engaged in aerial combat? No, they are playing! OWLS ARE PLAYING IN FRONT OF MY WINDOW OVER SEATTLE LIGHTING UP THE DARKNESS LIKE ANGELS! They fly hither and thither together and apart until the first, largest one signals the rest to fly North and he takes off over Elliot Bay, alone. Alone. I watch him soar over the Bay, stunned. STUNNED.
I look up Audubon Owls Downtown Seattle on GOOGLE: nothing!
In darkness I sit, staring at the now-empty sky where only moments earlier Angel-Owls took flight, wings glowing celestial/angelic, reflecting city lights below before departing Deep into Night's Solstice Sky...they had to be a clutch, fledglings "getting their Wings" under the wise, watchful eye of Mom and Dad. I figure Dad went off to hunt across the water leaving mom with the youngsters to explore downtown's abundant vermin population for dinner a la carte. But, who knows?
What kind of owls? Where was their nest? Pioneer Square is home to many trees yet these Pilots of the Sky flew right out of Smith Tower! So many questions, none of them important. Tonight I hope to have my binoculars ready. Although a wintry lightning & thunderous storm is passing, will I be able to see them?
Who cares? Our lonely nights here now have Meaning! Beauty. Mystery: WONDER!
Are we adjusting? It is taking a long time.
Why are there no photos? My computer caught a virus and DommyDom's mom has been kind enough to loan me hers until I get another. And I don't know how to cut and paste or would show you Smith Tower...Castle Residence of "Owls Over Seattle."
Are we adjusting? After last night, yes. Yes, we are.
Sentinels of the Night Sky, we await you now, you have turned lonely, dark nights of Homesickness into glimmering, shining Angels of Hope. Wild Hope.
Thank you, Owls: I wear my "Molly" hat every day. Now I shall wear it at night in the stuffed chair before a window where Miracles Brighten what had been nights filled with Darkness, no longer Lonely are we.
WHAT?
WHAT?
WHAT?
Peregrine falcons have been known to nest in Smith Tower but falcons these are not! Broad, glistening wings stretch into the night sky, short stumpy full-bodies between them, they are OWLS! How can this be?
More emerge, until five or so soar acrobatically between the tower, above lower buildings, and I am stunned: how can so many owls just appear like this? How can they get along, they are so territorial? Why aren't they engaged in aerial combat? No, they are playing! OWLS ARE PLAYING IN FRONT OF MY WINDOW OVER SEATTLE LIGHTING UP THE DARKNESS LIKE ANGELS! They fly hither and thither together and apart until the first, largest one signals the rest to fly North and he takes off over Elliot Bay, alone. Alone. I watch him soar over the Bay, stunned. STUNNED.
I look up Audubon Owls Downtown Seattle on GOOGLE: nothing!
In darkness I sit, staring at the now-empty sky where only moments earlier Angel-Owls took flight, wings glowing celestial/angelic, reflecting city lights below before departing Deep into Night's Solstice Sky...they had to be a clutch, fledglings "getting their Wings" under the wise, watchful eye of Mom and Dad. I figure Dad went off to hunt across the water leaving mom with the youngsters to explore downtown's abundant vermin population for dinner a la carte. But, who knows?
What kind of owls? Where was their nest? Pioneer Square is home to many trees yet these Pilots of the Sky flew right out of Smith Tower! So many questions, none of them important. Tonight I hope to have my binoculars ready. Although a wintry lightning & thunderous storm is passing, will I be able to see them?
Who cares? Our lonely nights here now have Meaning! Beauty. Mystery: WONDER!
Are we adjusting? It is taking a long time.
Why are there no photos? My computer caught a virus and DommyDom's mom has been kind enough to loan me hers until I get another. And I don't know how to cut and paste or would show you Smith Tower...Castle Residence of "Owls Over Seattle."
Are we adjusting? After last night, yes. Yes, we are.
Sentinels of the Night Sky, we await you now, you have turned lonely, dark nights of Homesickness into glimmering, shining Angels of Hope. Wild Hope.
Thank you, Owls: I wear my "Molly" hat every day. Now I shall wear it at night in the stuffed chair before a window where Miracles Brighten what had been nights filled with Darkness, no longer Lonely are we.
You had better be getting your butt out of that blue chair and taking photos! Of all people, you KNOW how to do that!
ReplyDeleteYipee! Owls! So glad to finally see you posting- miss you. How are you and the pigolettes? I am plodding along making progress inch by inch.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly sound like real owls, but you can't discount the possibility that they were indeed ghost owls. A google search of "Smith Tower, Seattle" turns up the fact that "The corner of 2nd Ave and Yesler housed Bartell's Owl Drug Store, the second Bartells location, from 1898 until it was demolished in 1911 to make way for the Smith Tower." (http://smithtower.com/observe/history-facts/)
ReplyDeleteI'm just sayin'. ;)
(SactoSylvia)