Last night I woke up to go to the bathroom at 2:30 AM and I heard the most beautiful singing from a bird perched in the bamboo forest in the backyard. I had the bathroom window open a few inches so I opened the window all the way so I could enjoy the singing while I went back to sleep. It was a mocking bird, a bachelor, vocalizing for a mate. He had seven songs in his repertoire and was just belting them out in the darkness. Mocking birds can have up to 200 hundred songs in their music folders but I counted 7 last night. I was thinking what girl could resist that man! Hope he captured some female’s heart. Woke back up for the day and heard all the song birds singing, welcoming the morning, and thanking God for giving them another magical day to live and enjoy.

Ate breakfast on the porch this morning. Bagels always taste better in the porch swing. If it’s not breakfast on the porch weather give me an episode of Gunsmoke. Love western shows. I know it’s not a good idea to eat in front of the tv but…sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

Mother Nature is blowing a strong wind today. The sky is gathering rain clouds. Looks like winter but it’s warm outside. My pansies are hoping for cooler weather. I’m bird watching as usual this morning. Saw two turkey vultures soaring on the wind currents. Not much wing flapping going on in this wind. Read somewhere that vultures have a hard time soaring. If you really observe them they kinda teeter and flap occasionally. With their wing span up to six feet, they go as high as 20,000 feet. I watch them over the house and their circles just take them higher and higher. Looks fun. Decided vultures are nature’s kites.

The cardinals are enjoying their sunflower seeds. One dove is bobbing around under a feeder. Saw a single tiny sparrow on one of the feeders. Came in to cook tacos for lunch. Stew and I wondered what American food is eaten in Mexico and internet research says American fast food restaurants and traditional food such as fried chicken are enjoyed. We really pile the cheese on our tacos but at traditional Mexican restaurants you won’t see cheese on the tacos. Guess that’s Americans adding more calories on everything. We’re good at that, too.

My dad taught me to love birds when we walked the bottoms of our farm in town. Sometimes we walked the railroad tracks looking for a cow who had escaped the pasture and he’d point out the different birds and he’d whistle their bird calls. We’d cross the small creek that passed through the farm and he point to the dragon flies and tell me, “If you see a dragon fly around, there is usually a snake nearby.” He called the dragon flies, “snake doctors.” Once he picked up a very small copperhead snake and threw him in a quart mason jar and we brought it home. Mama had a major coronary so daddy dumped it out and killed it. I think he wanted to teach me and baby brother how to identify poisonous snakes but that was the last lesson. I still can’t identify snakes.

I love reading quotes and get inspired by them. I’ve been through several boxes of Chief’s books looking for our volume of Bartlett’s quotations. Finally gave up looking. Ordered a volume a while back and after waiting for it to be back in stock, it’s coming tomorrow. Wanted the hard back copy and I can’t wait to sit in the swing and peruse it.

Was searching for bird quotes today and came across this quote by PD James —“God gives every bird his worm but he doesn’t throw it in the nest!” That is the best! You can take it at face value or dissect it and dig deeper to find the message. Some people work so hard for that worm. Some just give up and settle. Some wait all their lives for someone to give them their worm. We all have potential and deserve our “worm” but we have to hunker down, make a plan, and dedicate ourselves to be successful. Nobody said life was easy. We’re all responsible for our own happiness, yet we seek that happiness in others. You have to love yourself before you can truly love another.

We know morning light comes after the darkness of night and spring comes after winter. Sunsets tell us that endings can be beautiful too. Life comes and life goes. I think maybe the world should tear themselves away from technology and sit on a big front porch and watch nature. Nature can melt stress away and bring peace to your mind