Super Moon on the Rise

Super Moon Waxing, 3/16/11

Super Moon Waxing, 3/17/11

Super Moon rising, 3/19/11!

Super Moon clearing the haze.

Super Moon higher in the sky

Super Moon around Midnight

Hickory Birdies!

For your viewing pleasure: We have blue jays

Goldfinches

House finches

And a purple finch!

Birds with houses

Cowbirds

And mourning doves walking the grounds.

A delightful woodpecker

And of course

The stars of the show

Lots

And lots

And lots

Of cardinals!

All God's Creatures

Even as we were trying to absorb the news from Japan, the unfolding tragedy, we were making our way to the nursing home to have lunch with my parents.  It has "only" been about ten weeks since we last visited, which made it all the more shocking to realize just how many familiar faces were no longer with us.  My father is struggling with the nearness of death, with loss, with his own mortality.  He seems so fragile in his independence, compared to my very dependent mother.  One misstep, one miscalculation, one random gust of wind, and his life could radically change, perhaps end, in a moment.  My dear friend Kim Mason captured the very essence of what I am feeling, what perhaps many of us are feeling, about fragility and helplessness in the face of forces so obviously beyond our control.  Please read her beautiful post (facial tissues required): http://kimprayz.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/tragedies-large-and-small/

In the face of such a fleeting existence, of overwhelming family stories, of global tragedy, I have no words of wisdom.  I give you instead images of critters that make me smile, because I figure we all need something to make us smile just now.

Consider the humble burro

How cute is that?  And I promised you sheep

Looks like we hit the mother lode!

Emphasis on "mother"

So many little lambs!

And this sheepie from another farm

Finally, what can possibly be sillier than goats?

I pray this finds you safe, and if not comfortable, at least comforted in your hour of distress, like Kim's dark-eyed junco, like the men and women to whom my father has ministered at the home, like me in the arms of something bigger than I am, something I do not even pretend to understand, a Presence sheltering me in the face of the storm.

Carolina Spring

We are spending a few days in Hickory visiting family. 
The drive down was oh, so dreary

But things are blooming down here!

The cardinals are a bit tired of rain

Still, one ventured out to greet us.

Daffodils are everywhere!

And even in the rain, the fresh blooms are a welcome sight.

Now the skies have cleared, and the moon is shining

No matter where I go, or how long I might live there, this will always be home.  

Tomorrow, I go in search of sheep!

Signs of Life

 I am still struggling--the absence of poetry from my blog is stark testament to that fact.  

But I am not quite ready to be consigned to you, good sir!

Rather, I am like the angry, rushing Little Miami, lashing out at my confinements, 

seeking to carve out something new.

If winter has not quite released its hold on me, it is fading

And there are signs of spring, like this plump robin in the yard

And this brave sparrow contemplating a bath.

 

Winter aconite blooms brightest after bitter cold

And these youngsters seem extra frisky!

How I long to run and play with them

With no thought to future perils.

But I am more woodpecker than lamb these days

Pecking away, slow but steady,

 

Fluffed against the lingering chill.

This, too, will pass. 

 Or so the squirrels say.

I generally take them at their word.  Besides,

I saw two redwinged blackbirds yesterday!