Sat outside in the yard in my purple chair for a long time today. My grass had its first mowing this morning and the air was full of birds chirping and squabbling around the feeders. So pleasant to be sitting in the sunshine, reading the newspaper on this first day of spring. Penelope enjoyed her siesta on the grass. Nothing interrupted the bird symphony. Wasn’t even enough breeze to rattle the wind chimes. The sky was its crisp blue, then the thin clouds gathered and turned it gray. I just sat back and let the world spin on its axis around me.

Had some new bird friends drop by to visit the feeders. One gray catbird found his way here with a small flock of brown headed cowbirds. So pretty! The male and female catbirds dress alike. They wear steel gray feathers and little black caps. They have some black on their wing feathers and some rusty colored feathers under their tails. The catbirds songs are a great addition to my yard symphony. The males love to sing, sometimes as long as ten minutes, and can mimic tree frogs and other bird calls. They’ll be great soloists in my yard symphony. Maybe the catbird is the featured soloist in the cowbirds traveling choir.

The male brown headed cowbirds are glossy black with subtle Hershey chocolate colored heads. The females are light brown, some might call it gray. Sad thing about female cowbirds, they are terrible mothers. The females lay their eggs in other birds’ nests and rely on the host birds to raise their young. Some host birds will neglect their young to raise the cowbirds. That’s sad but it’s nature’s way.

Stew and I were eating supper tonight and I asked him if he knew he was going to be stranded on a deserted island in the ocean what one thing would he take with him. He quickly said, “A woman!” Then we both burst out laughing. We talked a long time pondering this question. I thought a big Swiss Army knife would be the best thing to take. Chief would probably take an encyclopedia with him. I told Stew maybe Chief would take the P volume so he’d know about edible plants. But actually looked up plants in the World Book, volume P, and after perusing many pages realized that would be no help. He might take the Bible cause he always read the Bible every night before going to sleep. He could read and study the Bible when his survival chores were through each day. He didn’t have any common sense so he probably wouldn’t make a wise decision. Then I realized he’d probably take some tomato seeds. That man loved tomatoes. He could grow them and save the seeds. He always had a magnifying glass close by so he might take that for building a fire. But he’d probably say, “I’d take you, Mama.”

Did a little research and a knife and a fishing net are the top two things to take. Big box of matches is at number three followed by a hammock, so you could sleep off the ground away from night critters. The other things in order to ten are sun screen, bug spray, inflatable raft with oars, a flashlight (solar or windup), a spear, and a satellite phone. Those things sound like things you’d take on a vacation to a deserted island. And sounds like a list for some rich tourists. Can’t believe they left off a first aid kit. Course they probably have a doctor on call.

Kept thinking about choosing one thing for survival and then I thought what one thing would I take from my home here if I had to evacuate knowing I’d never come back. With no hesitation I would run through the rooms grabbing family photographs. All the memories captured and preserved, all the children growing and changing through the years of photos.

Actually if I just grabbed the photos on the buffet behind Big Ma’s sofa — Rosie, beautiful at age six; my mother sitting in front of a Christmas tree on her first Christmas in this house; Chief and I holding our first grandchild; Thomas and me at his wedding; my three brothers laughing and sitting on the sofa together; family photos of Thomas and Ashley and their children; Stew walking in the snow at age two — these photos would sustain me in any storm.

I love to walk around the house at night, looking at all my framed photos of my loved ones, as I turn off the lamps. The photos always bring a smile to my face and make me realize how fortunate I am. I love to study the older photos and see characteristics from one generation to another. Digital photos are wonderful to share electronically but to me nothing is better than a photograph in a frame. When I reach to turn off the lamp on my bedside table every night, I see Chief and me in a happy vacation photo. That photo makes me smile, yet makes my heart ache, too.