It takes less than 20 minutes of quiet contemplation and alertness to notice all sorts of exciting developments in our backyard forest.

On this particularly cool mist-like rainy Sunday, I was waiting for our 18 year old cat Gracie finish her outdoor nap and lap and saw so much life happening.

I was looking up at the pear tree in our neighbors yard noticing that the fruits were starting to turn red. I don’t remember ever seeing so many pears reach full ripeness because the squirrels usually got to them first. I wondered if the squirrels were slow this year or had moved on to other yards. Then I heard the rustle in the trees.

The squirrels were back and gathering their brunch. One climbed down the tree and to a branch as was munching happily on a green pear. Another was more choosey, I guess, or maybe shaking the pears free because I kept hearing pears plopping down to the ground.

My ears were then distracted by some Blue Jays squawking in the pine trees above. I stared up for a while wanting to see them. They were having a conversation across the trees. Finally I saw one, and soon after the rest of the Blue Jays family joined in the that tree and the squawking quieted down a bit.

The last highlight happened when I was checking in on the potted plants. I lifted one of the smaller pots that I put into a bigger heavier pot because I was noticing it kept getting knocked over. When I took the pot out because it was full of last night’s rain, I saw two frogs!