Heal's Hollow Studios

Nature can be nasty, and it can be beautiful.  And sometimes it’s just plain remarkable. 

Today is put-on-the-snow-tires day at our house.  It is an annual event that occurs every fall when the weather begins to whisper of flurries in the Northern part of our province and the sky takes on that magnificent vibrant blue – a telltale sign of cold air beginning to sweep in to replace the warmth of summer and the golden hues of autumn. 

The chore is not difficult just time consuming. It takes place in our driveway next to the spreading branches of a maple tree.  And that is where nature and perhaps the universe conspired to help my husband. 

This fall has been a strange one – the warmest on record and it’s meant that our tree’s leaves haven’t even started changing yet, never mind dropping off the tree.  But the temperatures are falling now, even if the leaves aren’t.

Jeff, my husband, had bent down to see inside the truck to grab a pair of gloves, but when he stood up and turned around, he was startled to see a blue jay at his eye level on the branch next to him.  The bird squawked once and then flew up two branches. 

My husband laughed at how the bird’s call had made him jump but then turned back to his task, putting the incident out of his mind. 

But before he could begin to work again, the jay began knocking on something in the tree, but it didn’t sound like a branch.  My husband looked up to see what the jay was doing and that’s when he saw it – the biggest wasp nest he had seen in years directly above his head, hidden by the leaves of the tree.

The bird squawked once more then flew away, apparently satisfied that my husband had gotten the message. 

Remarkable indeed. Happy Friday the thirteenth!