Springtime birds

Today I want to talk about birds, since there is quite a variety flying around my back yard, and meadow these days. I really love birds, plain and simple! Their beauty and sound just make me feel happy. I know there is a book out with all the sounds to go with the birds, and I would like to own it, but alas, too much for my budget, so I will just have to try and guess which bird is singing, and calling to other birds at any given moment. My favorites these days are the little yellow finches that alight onto our thistle bird feeder when the red winged blackbird gets out of the way. I love their lovely color, and the way they eat upside down on the feeder. The red cardinals are next on my "hit" list, but they are more rare along with the blue birds. Robins, of course, are everywhere and last year I had the joy of watching a robin right out my bathroom window, build its nest branch by branch, sit on the nest forever, it seemed, and then hear the peep, peep, peep of the newborns. I watched as Papa bird and Mama bird took turns flying from the nest to bring back food, and watched as the babies stretched up out of the nest to be fed, mouth to mouth from their parents. And then, sadly, one day they were all gone. I guess this is the way it should be, but darn, I wanted to watch those kids grow up! Isn't nature wonderful? So many of us don't take the time to watch it unfold right before our eyes, but when we do, what an interesting and lovely show it is! Of course I have written several poems about the birds I love and I will share two of them here.

The Chickadee
There is nothing happier for me
Than a chickadee
Alighting on my window pane
And singing his little song
So merrily.......
How much I delight in thee!
And when you fly away from here
There is naught for me to do
But wait til once again you come
To make of my day, a song.....

Red Bird
Every morning, the red bird comes
Stopping briefly
To perch on my backyard deck

I stop
And put down my coffee
Slowly and quietly
Not to disturb
Or cause the flight
Of this fleeting, crimson sight
Which so delights my senses

I feel a sacred moment then
His brilliance planted firmly in my soul
That will last and last
Throughout my day
As I recall this image of delight
Cemented clearly in my heart
Before my red feathered friend
Flies away.....

Thoughts on turning 70

Ah, today I am thinking about numbers.....and all that numbers represent. Sums, dates, amounts, addresses, but very important to most of us: age. Ah but, it's just a number, isn't it? Well, yes, but then again, maybe no. Upon thinking and pondering my recent birthday milestone, I was quick to remind myself and others that, well, it's just a number but maybe it is more than that. It certainly represents the yin and the yang of my life; the before and the after; what has been, and what will be, for me, 70 years lived upon this earth, and an unknown number of years to come. It represents other milestones in my life too, like my high school years at Summit Country Day School; my first real love; my college years at Marquette University in freezing Milwaukee, Wisconsin; my two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, East Africa (quite warm); meeting and dating my one true love, my husband of 40 years, and our marriage in July, 1969; the birth of our two daughters and all the joyful years they brought to our lives; our eight year "party" in Colorado and then our return to the Midwest; and our happy landing in Normal, Illinois amidst the flatland of lovely farms, and the joys of living in a small Midwest town. In and among the areas and locations of my life are all the wonderful people I have met and the lasting friends I have made. I am abundantly blessed in this area of my life along with my Cincinnati family of six brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews and now, two wonderful grandchildren. So, no....70 is not just a number. It is the representation of a life lived, so far so good. The morning I turned 70, I woke up and said to my husband, "Well, I made it; the rest is gravy." Or as they say in New Orleans, the rest is "lagniappe-a little extra." I feel abundantly blessed, healthy and am continuing to charge ahead. Who could ask for more?? I love what Falstaff says in Shakespeare's play, Henry IV, Part One,
" If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is damned." I want to think of myself among that group.