The Birdbath

As I was feeling sad and sorry for myself this morning, God reminded me that it's sometimes the little details that make a big difference.
I had just watered my plants and filled the birdbath.  I was standing on the porch about to go in, when a Mockingbird landed on the side of the birdbath.  He started drinking, bobbing his head up and down as he did, then he just plopped his whole body in.  He began to shimmy and shake and throw water all over and around himself.  He shimmied and shook some more as water splashed out of the birdbath.  Another bird flew into the tree above him and watched.  The Mockingbird eventually felt he was good to go and flew onto a nearby limb and continued to shake and prune until he finally flew away.  In the meantime, the little tufted gray guy flew down onto the side of the bath.  He looked in and flitted around to one side or the other, as if thinking, "this thing is too deep".  He even landed in the middle once but popped right out, I guess thinking it was too deep for him.  After hopping around the entire top, he was finally brave enough to go for it and took a drink.  When he didn't fall in, he continued that same bobbing up and down to drink until he got enough and off he went.  More birds came as I watched.

I've often wondered why the water level goes down so fast after I fill the birdbath...mystery solved.
God showed me though, that if I will slow down long enough to smell the flowers, or watch the birds bathe, that life is still good, and sweet and simple.  I talk to him a lot these days.  I reach for him.  I ask for things and I thank him for things.  He reminds me that if I'll just take one day, one hour, one moment at a time, that it could make a big difference.  The big things don't look so big then.  "Listen to me and watch for me" he says, "and keep moving forward, one simple bird bath at a time".

"A joyful heart is good medicine".  Proverbs 17:22

Encourage One Another, continuing the journey on fresh paths.
Blessings and love to you, xoxo.

Everybody's Blogging It

First day of spring here at the little house had a bite of "brrrrr" to the wind.  I postponed my walk to let the sun rise a little higher in the sky.
Instead of a rooster, a Mockingbird has been waking us up...literally.  He even likes to sing right outside the window on the front porch.

Ikey and I have begun "porching" again.

Welcome Spring, even though cooler days are what I really enjoy.  God if you chose, give us some nice 70 degree days, some breezy not WINDY days, some perfect days for riding, picnics and walks and rain.
Thanks for the flowers we are already seeing and

sightings of migrating birds.

The pecans and the mesquites are blooming.

Spring is here, March 20th, 2013.

Acts 14:17

Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”

Encourage One Another, continuing the journey on fresh paths.

Blessings and love to you, xoxo.

Call Me Crazy

And call me crazy, but guess who just showed up on the porch this morning, hanging out where their roosting box use to be...the Morning Doves!

(Posts from 10/30/12 and 11/4/12)
http://thegoodlife54.blogspot.com/2012/10/and-they-lived-happily-ever-after.html
http://thegoodlife54.blogspot.com/2012/11/post-script-to-and-they-lived-happily.html

They are out there right now!  For me to move and get my camera, I'm sure they'd see me through the window.  It's them.  No really, I know it's them.  They are just picking and cleaning and scratching away.  They feel safe up there.  I don't know where they've been.  Someplace warm I suspect.  There are three of them.  You remember, the mama and two babies.  They are on a little red table on the porch enjoying the sun.

OK, I couldn't stand it.  I had to slither along the floor with my phone and get these photos so you would believe me.

How do I know it's them?  Because I believe it it; because I'm a romantic; because I believe dove go back to where they lived the years before and make a nest; because it just is.

Call me crazy!

Genesis 8
⁸ Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.

Encourage One Another, continuing the journey on fresh paths.

Blessings and love to you, xoxo!

Country Birds in Winter

I know I blogged when I first moved here that country summer birds just were not interested in bird feeders.  There must be such cool things in the country for birds to eat that little seeds in a barrel are just boring.  I have found country winter birds are different.  They enjoy the little seed feast.  They even seem to flick it out on the ground so other birds can enjoy it.  My feeders are rather small and have short perches that the sparrows love but which make it hard for dove and Field Lark to sit on, so they eat off the ground.  There's a bunch of them out there.  I can see them daily through the window.

In fact, I have put up two feeders now since there are so many.   They come every day.  I do not know obviously if they are the same ones, but there are many.

They are just fun to watch.  I can hear a wood pecker in the distance.  I love birds.  I love their sounds, their antics, their colors, and just the fact that they never worry.  They know God will provide for them, some how, some way.  They in fact don't know any other way.  They don't even try to do it alone.  I love their attitude.  Think I'll take a lesson here.

All these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

- Luke 12:30-31 (KJV)

Encourage One Another, continuing the journey on fresh paths.

Love and blessings to you, xoxo!

"Gettin' Jiggy Wid It"

Have you ever heard or watched birds flirt?  I've seen a lot of it lately.  It's a little bit crazy.  I mean when love is in the air...ya get a little "jiggy wid it".  The "boy" bird will fluff his feathers out, struck around and "round up" his girl.  He follows her, herds her, ruffles his feathers at her, squalks, sqweels and jumps.  She walks around paying him absolutely no mind as if she could care less.  I guess eventually she gives in.  The "boy" bird will also sing.  I mean really sing...loud.  Well to me it sounds like singing but I suspect he is telling her something like what he'll do for her, how pretty she is, why he's the one for her, that he has a nice home or will build her one, that they'll go to church on Sunday, that he'll let her bring the dog in the house, that she's the only one for him, that he's rich and handsome...something like that.  Truthfully, he just wants her.  Nature is calling him and he will do whatever it takes to win her over.  He's just a flirt, a gad about, a ladies man and maybe a little bit of a liar.  So good luck my friend.  You can do it.  I'll watch for the twigs, strings and trash mounting up in trees as nests and the eventual babies chirping.  Spring has sprung.  Bring on the flowers and the honey bees.  Bring on the 70 degree weather.  Bring on the Easter parade.  Bring it on.

This is a little bird house my dad made some years ago!  It needs a family!

Encourage One Another

Houston, Correction

OK, I have to say, there is more to Houston than concrete and pavement.  It's already spring here.  Yesterday afternoon there were singing birds everywhere.  The dove in the trees were singing like a choir.  I didn't recognize the song but it was pretty.  Mockingbirds were claiming the tallest trees.  Squirrels scampered everywhere.  I saw a couple of blooming redbud trees.  Today I walked to Hermann Park. Jasmine were climbing fences.  Pansies had been planted in many flower beds.  The gray squirrels have taken over the park and Rice University.  They were so cute.  The oak trees are huge and fabulous, some over a hundred years old.  The cover the trail and provide lots of shade.  The temperature was about 67 degrees today.  Runners and walkers, dogs and bikers were all over the place.  Most were smiling.  Some were in a hurry, some were just ambling along.  Me, I'm someplace between a hurry and an amble.  I try to walk between 15 and 16 minute miles.  I usually walk 2 to 3 miles at a time.  My walk today was extremely pleasant.  This kind of weather and scenery make walking so much more enjoyable.  Helps me know that walking for my health is a good idea.  So spring, even tho you are 15 days away, bring it on.

Encourage one another!