birds

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A moment for the birds

This morning the birds are poking around in the dirt looking for seeds. Fear not little ones as the Spring is here and the earth is loosening and exposing all sorts of new delights for you. So many new friends have come to explore the woodpile outside my window. Why even yesterday we had a few new ducks that came to the river’s edge right outside out path. So many ducks usually gather a bit further upriver. But this crew came and jostled about for hours. I am grateful.

There are times when I don’t know what to do with myself. I feel a little bubble of anxiousness or frustration or sometimes a drifty feeling in which I know I will lose myself for moments only to snap out and be anxious or frustrated that I was lost. This morning as I started to feel that feeling that bubble begin to form I went to my writing desk and sat and looked out the window. I ignored a to do list. I ignored the computer. I ignored my journals and papers. I simply looked out the window and watched the birds and squirrels.

Their resourcefulness is remarkable. Their agility, playfulness, and productivity. I gave myself ten minutes of simple observation. A little brown bird plunked his beak into a pile of leaves and spun around. This little dance caused its tail feathers to flick more leaves up and swirling revealing all sorts of surprises for everyone. As I giggled watching it a few more times my eyes drifted up to a little chickadee spinning around on a wire suet feeder. It pecked about and then flittered up to a tree. It was at that instance that I followed it to it’s resting point and noticed. I noticed the tree it landed on has started to bloom. How is it that… I could have sworn just moments before… the tree was dull wintery brown with persistent ivy clambering up its bark. Yet now, the tree is brighter and almost shining in the sun as it shows off the delicate beginnings of its precious pink blossoms cascading and swaying in the breeze. How promising and joyful. And now as I look around everything seems just a bit brighter and twinkly.

When it is time to move on and focus my attention onto the tasks ahead, I have more energy and sparkle. Taking a moment to be with nature and be with myself is always healing.

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The Birds will Guide You

This morning in meditation my throat hurt and my head was sore. I was feeling a little under the weather. I kept breathing to release and begin my yoga movement. The more I drifted away from the pain and annoyance of a possible cold coming on, the more I was absorbed in the sound of the birds. I don’t know if they became louder or I became more focused on them but it seemed as though they were in my head. Singing and taking me on a journey. Leading me and coaxing me to sing and let me head fall back to rejoice in the song.

 

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Delicate Balance

On several Channel Markers in the Indian River, Florida, families of Osprey make their nests. It is a beautiful site and if you are fortunate enough to be able to ride aboard a boat, you may get a very close look at the parents and babies in these nests. Be warned that the parents will rise, squawk and push their shoulders forward as if they are about to take flight – aiming for your face. Please go slow or idle for a few moments and then move along. These birds are majestic, fierce, delicate and sweet all in one moment. Their nests are very large intricate installations of art in some very precarious places. Two of the nests we photographed were built atop channel markers that triangular. It seems impossible that these enormous woven nests can dangle atop the peak of a sign…and yet they do with such stability and strength that I was left in awe.

Isn’t that what we strive for in our lives. We have somewhat messy lives, homes and hearts that are held together by available scraps and hope. I looked at these Ospreys and thought of myself. I was reassured. I feel like my life is a bit tattered, thrown together and teetering in the wind. I saw them working as a team to protect, build and feed and fly. I have a new vision of my sometimes chaotic and unraveling life. I am that Mother Osprey. I am proud of my nest  with its moss and twigs fluttering in the breeze. I protect and cherish my children and work with my husband to keep the balance, keep the strength, keep the majestic power of our lives.

Osprey Nest

Osprey Nest