Morning Collection - November 8, 2026

🦃 Something I Noticed

I just watched a documentary that I loved called My Life as a Turkey. 

I think I found it so fascinating because it felt relevant to my life in North Carolina, where I frequently hear wild turkeys calling in the distance, see flocks of them walking down the road, and once even watched one fly out of a tree that must have been 100 feet tall. One day, a wild turkey appeared at the glass front door and stood there peering inside. 

They are very curious! 

In the documentary, Joe Hutto raised a group of wild turkeys from eggs, spending nearly every waking moment with them for over a year. I won't tell you all the cool parts, but there was something he said about how the experience changed him that stuck with me. 

While he was with the turkeys, he began seeing things he'd never noticed before, simply because the turkeys noticed them first. 

They were so in tune with the world around them. Every little movement, sound, insect, or change in their surroundings was worth investigating. Their curiosity was entirely about what was happening right then and there. They weren't thinking about yesterday or tomorrow. There were no greener pastures. 

And as he began seeing the world through their eyes, he found himself becoming more present, too. It seemed to give him a greater sense of joy in simply being alive. 

It made me think about my own life and how so many of my most joyful moments come from this same sense of noticing. 

Watching the land change with the seasons, keeping track of which birds are visiting, discovering some weird bug and trying to identify it. The daily encounters with deer, chipmunks, groundhogs, wild turkeys, and even the occasional bear! 

The more I learn about the natural world, the more interested I become in what's going on around me. And the more interested I become, the more I seem to notice. 

Maybe that's why we so often hear the advice to take a walk or get out in nature when life feels overwhelming. For a little while, we're paying attention, not thinking. 

And of course, painting requires noticing. Lots of it! 

In fact, much of learning to paint is learning to see. The shapes between the branches of a tree, the subtle differences in color, the way light changes everything. 

The end product of a painting is very rewarding but is it also the process that makes painting so enjoyable? 

Joe's world changed simply because he began paying attention to the things the turkeys were paying attention to. 

Nothing about the world itself had changed. He was just seeing more of it.yes never do.

🩵 Something I Love 

White Turkeys by Yuri Krotov (b. 1964) 

Russian Impressionist 

His paintings are known for their loose, energetic brushwork, beautiful color, and ability to capture fleeting moments of everyday life. His subjects often reflect his love of nature and rural life. 

I love the Impressionist quality, color and appreciate the distinct shapes of shadow and light. (squint to see)