Slow Down

Lost the time to live, no time to take

Caught in a cycle that won't give you a break

Tensions running high, I can see it in your eyes

You call that success, I call it a lie

Slow down

I've got to slow down cause I want to see,

all of what this world has to offer me

Take a break, appreciate,

before this lifetime slips away

Slow down

Try to think back a long time ago

When life was for living and the pace was slow

Wasn't it worth it Will you stay

I hope I don't let it slip away

Slow down

-Youth of Today

Sounds as simple now as it did back in 1988 when I first heard this song, but yet it's not as easy to put "slowing down" in to action as one might think at first. How many road trips have you been on where you've seen something interesting on the side of the highway and thought to yourself... I'd like to check that out, but there's just not enough time to literally slow down! I know I can't count how many times.

Always some place to be or some things that just have to get done right now. After many years of wanting to "take a break, appreciate" I think I have finally caught myself slowing down. The secret? Birds!

Yes, this explains the sudden influx of "wildlife" photos in my collection. What started as a contest to find and identify the most birds between a co-worker and I last fall, has since become a new found passion. Not just a passion for birding or photographing birds, but a passion for slowing down and appreciating more of everything around me above and beyond the birds.

With Spring Migration behind us now... it's time to take a step back and reflect. Not just reflect on how I could really make use of a longer focal length for my camera lens, but seriously just reflect.

Yellow Warbler

Gray Catbird

Barn Swallow

Male and female American Goldfinch

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Willet

American Avocet

Marbled Godwit, Semipalmated Sandpiper and a Short-billed Dowitcher

I have found/photographed over ninety five species of birds between Jan-June this year in Manitoba. Amateur numbers in the world of birding, but I had to slow down to make note of that many. Otherwise I would have missed them all.