At that precise moment, a large flock of geese flying south over the lake caught her eye. – Talya Tate Boerner, Arkansas farm girl, novelist, “Front Porch Magazine” columnist

The male guards his mate on the nest…When traveling in the air, the male Canada Goose leads the way, breaking the air for his sweetheart behind him…the family travels next to her…he is one of the most self-sacrificing, godly principled leaders the human eye ever beheld. – Jack Miner, Canadian conservationist (1865-1944)

Temperatures dropped, making it easy to enjoy the front porch with Wilhelmina. A quiet breeze passing by; the temperature in the mid-seventies. Sunrise was around 5:45. At that time Sam would have geared up for fishing and headed to the river. It would be at least two hours later before coffee was made and I’d be sitting on the porch watching the morning come alive. First Wilhelmina needed a lot of petting. She did a couple of rollovers, her way of saying she was happy to see me. Due to the holidays, I was behind on my “God’s Minute” devotional book published in 1916. I bought the little book in a thrift store in New Hampshire in the early ‘80s. I thought it should remind me I’d always have one minute to spare. Still, I get behind. After reading six devotional writings by different authors, I was amazed how some things have not changed since 1916.

I decided to review the pages of the Almanac, looking for something good that happened in 1916. The entries were only a terrible war across the world. Perhaps the writers of the little book purposed to lift the human spirit during a tragic time. I discovered one entry that wasn’t war. In 1916 “Beloved author and veterinarian James Herriot was born in Glasgow, Scotland. ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ (1974) is one of his twelve books that relate his life in the Yorkshire countryside.”

It was with greater appreciation I was able to look out across fields and lakes in the early morning when out from the tree line to the west came a doe. She walked slowly along the trees then entered the woods. It’s always uplifting to see such beautiful animals that solely take care of themselves. A bit unlike my sweet demanding Wilhelmina.

We’ve kept watch on our Canada geese visitors. We have the one family group who guard their goslings well. The goslings were getting close in size to their parents. The adults would walk, forage, or swim with one as the leader, presumably the male. And the female following behind her brood. They were seen in the grass, in the fields, alongside the lake, and swimming in the lake. That morning I could hear a sound like a goose but somehow different. It was a singular call and not continuous. Since the birth of the goslings the geese had been quiet. A protective method of not attracting predators I’d imagine.    

And then as quiet as they had been, four geese lifted up from the lake, made a pass around, and toward the high tops of the trees. I could no longer see them once they left. It might have been the goslings’ first flight and they did it well. The little book reading continued, “We thank you for the joy of the morning…teach us to take our joys as they come, and to make friends with our trials; to know that life is good, whatever skies it may please Thee to bring over us.”

Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].