Changes and Feathers Afoot

Oftentimes, it's the simplest, most easily overlooked things in life that thrill and delight me the most; and which are portals to other dimensions than those which ordinarily meet the distracted, pre-programmed eye...

This is never truer than in moments where change looms on the horizon. The 'threat' of the unknown brings with it an intense sense of poignancy; an appreciation for the known and the every-day which crystallises tiny micro-events and things into diamond-like gems of unparalleled, exquisite beauty.

Jack the Chicken Field Pheasant has now completed his moult and is in the process of growing back a new set of plumage. He looks quite unrecognisable at present. His ears and white collar are missing, his face-wattles are half their usual size, his head is purple where it once was green... Most of his shimmering, gorgeous old plumage is scattered here and there like jettisoned ballast which could simply no longer be allowed to hold back his metamorphosis into New Jack...

Jack, before this year's moult (@juliank, this shot is my entry into #animalphotography!)

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Jack this morning, with missing ears and collar - the new plumage is still a work in progress!

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A beautiful, shimmering Jack feather

This little cast-off will join the collection of feathers which adorn various spots in my home and studio. And when it fades away, as all things invariably do, Jack and his beautiful colours, Jack and his beautiful, hesitant-bold bravery, will live on in my heart, even if we are taken so far away from each other that we never see each other again.

And even when we are both 'gone', the knowledge that a human being and a wild pheasant were once friends here in this field will go on and on reverberating throughout the universe.

For Life, The Great Recycler, is a vast, reciprocal, co-creative symphony, and Jack and I have undoubtedly left a harmony or two which will continue to resonate and ring out always...

This I know to be true. And so it is...

With love,

Jay