Today was a beautiful day in so many ways. The sky was so pretty and blue and sunny and lots of birds were flitting around the yard. Stew gave me two thistle sock bird feeders for Valentine’s Day. Only certain kinds of birds have beaks that enable them to eat from the socks. Finches and pine siskins, and chickadees love thistle seeds. I’ve seen a few purple finches and pine siskins lately mixed in with the flock of American goldfinches. Soon as I hung the feeder up two goldfinches perched on it. Sometimes it take a while for birds to flock to a new feeder. Last year I ending up through away a sock feeder because the seeds were never eaten and finally ruined. Looking forward to tomorrow so I can watch the finches on the sock feeder.

Read on the internet today we need to put our hummingbird feeders up around the second week in March so the early migrants can find them. I call the first hummingbirds, bird feeder scouts, and always thought they were scouting out the feeders to tell all their friends where to find the nectar. Didn’t have many hummingbirds last year but I’m buying new feeders this year. For some reason they haven’t spent much time at my feeders that last two years. Might put those old feeders on the back deck this year. Put a thistle seed sock on the deck for the finches in late afternoon. Surely Grandpaw raccoon won’t bother the thistle feeder. You never know with him.

I went to Home Depot today in LaGrange, GA, and bought some pansies. Just a hop and a skip to LaGrange from Roanoke. Been looking for pansies since mine were killed during the December arctic blast. I’m so happy to have them it feels like Christmas morning. Took my oldest sister-in-law with me and we shopped around some. She knocked some wooden Easter eggs off the shelf at the Dollar Tree and we got a good laugh. Seems like every time we go off together something falls off a shelf. Late afternoon my niece called me to come and visit and see her son’s new dog, Sammy, a precious Airedale Terrier. He was so cute running around on his long legs. He’s still getting used to those long legs and stumbled around and was precious trying to be ferocious with their large cat. The cat was twice as big as the puppy and definitely not a friend of the puppy. They’ll be friends soon, I’m sure.

I’m sitting here eating a box of Whoppers while I write my thoughts. Bought them today at the Dollar Tree. Guess what I saw in the Easter candy section? A bag of all black, licorice jelly beans. Yuck! Wonder if they will sell, probably. Well, I bet Whoopers are yucky to some folks.

I was thinking today about how important friends are in our lives. My friend and I used to say we were each other’s psychiatrists. We tell each other everything and never judge each other or think each other is crazy. We don’t think we’re crazy, we know we are crazy! Smile! We even think about sharing a room at Shady Oaks but don’t know how we can fit two spoiled lap dogs in there with us. I have another friend who I know I can depend on if I have a crisis. Her daily phone calls got me through Covid and helped me adjust to life back in Roanoke after the death of Chief.

I’m fortunate in my friendships and I appreciate all of them. I cherish my friendships. Knowing you can depend on someone gives you a sense of security. We call our friends with bad news and we call our friends with good news. Friends give us an outlet to express ourselves. They help us through the trials and tribulations of life and share in our celebrations of life. We are richer because of our friendships. Bernard Meltzer describes a friend perfectly — “A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.” To all my friends, young and old, I love y’all!