"Calling All Frogs" c. 2008 Mendy Knott

I drink in the serenity of the snowcapped mountains that stretch in all directions as I rest outside the adobe building while shriveled up leaves scrape across the flagstone walkway making their own symphony, tumbling excitedly as they pirouette past me.�Cement and earth sit between the spaces that connect the different oddly shaped stone. Light and shadow dance upon the pavement.�Filaments of a spider web catch the sunlight and sparkle like geodes, those unassuming stones that contain within them a dazzling center of quartz crystals. For me they are a wonderful metaphor to look more deeply because often what may appear to be quite ordinary has an inner landscape of mystery and beauty. Sometimes I have to really look to find the core but eventually I begin to notice the patterns and come to expect the unexpected.��Instead of a web pattern, straight lines of silk connect branches, shimmering with specks of rainbow light, as if many tinker bells dance amongst the vegetation.�In the distance a magpie makes himself known as a gentle breeze caresses my body. An aloof Blue Jay settles in the underbrush looking for morsels rewriting his song. The clouds form and reform themselves. The sky, a brilliant blue more distant than the earth itself.� The trees almost bare with a few leaves left still clinging on tightly reveal large nests high up in their limbs. Last season's flowers have dried crispy on their stalks faded like a Japanese watercolor. I fill my lungs with the smell of juniper as the sun's rays seem to catch on fire, part of their needles and her breath warming my very core. Trees sway to their own rhythm. A woodpecker looking for bugs not far away drums impatiently as a dog sings his soulful tune.

Sounds reverberate around me, some soft, others melodic and harsh. I am the orchestra leader, conducting a concerto unwritten, then a pause makes me listen more intently.�Old growth is contrasted against new leaves forming. The earth comes alive bursting like a bite from a juicy orange upon my view.

Ellen Fuller (cyberellie@mac.com) is an artist and writer living in New Mexico.