This month we shift our focus skyward, paying homage to our winged brethren. Our fine-feathered friends are the first to greet us with song in the morning, the first to warn us when a storm approaches, and the first to mark the changing of the seasons. Whether migratory or resident, raptor or forager, social or solitary, birds observe the cadences of life closely. It has been my experience that they have much to teach us.
That must be why birds figure so prominently in art and lore. After all, what would the night sky be without Cygnus the swan flying over the Northern Hemisphere? Can we imagine Edgar Allan Poe casting a weasel as the ever-present creature responding "Nevermore"? What would Sesame Street be without Big Bird?
We'll let you, our esteemed Jedheads, ponder these thought-provoking questions.
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A few years ago we found ourselves in Grand Canyon during the last week of April. We tried for and were issued a walk-up permit to backpack down into the Canyon, spending a few blissful days and nights soaking in its grandeur. Right then and there we got hooked on the splendor and intimacy of a trek below the rim. And so every last week of April since, we have made it a point to return to that big crack in the earth and tackle a below-the-rim route.