Noticing What I Notice

When I go for a walk, I like to open to, and look for, surprises. I was thinking about that this morning, as I have been walking daily at the same beach and noticing what is new each day, like this red revealed beneath the peeled away bark.
Some changes or surprises that I see are due to the varied time of day or season – things like lighting, what’s growing and tide fluctuation - and others arise with the weather

or might just be what I notice, meaning that the surprise might have been there before and I missed it, so it becomes one today. And there are little surprises:

and big surprises, which have to do with my valuing of them. I see gull feathers all the time and this is probably one too, but it's small size and beige spot near the tip are less usual a find and what is rarer stands out. I once arrived at this quiet, small beach to find a movie about to be shot on it, complete with props and a security guard! What I encounter also depends on how tuned in I am to noticing and acting on my intuition – like when I was drawn to venture onto the rocks at the point, I saw ten otters playing in the water – hard to see in the photo from my pocket digital camera - and not all of them are in it, but I'm glad I didn't miss that!

If I took photos of what isn't novel to me, it might still be a surprise to you. I think what captures my attention is a flag marking potential growth and learning that might surpise me all over...