Finding Calm

We all find ways to soothe the bombardment of life as it seems to run over us at times. For me, I write it all down. Some of it makes sense, some never does but writing combined with my love of nature and dogs helps me continue to go forward.

I am currently working on book 2 of Smiles from Heaven, independently published with Kindle of Amazon. It is a compilation of short stories and poetry that I hope help brings smiles to the reader. I now the stories helped me as I wrote them, sometimes laughing at my own thoughts sometimes crying at the reality of the hurt. I thought I would periodically publish one here to see what those who read my blog think. I do not profess to fully understand poetry, I am just writing my thoughts hoping to relate to others. Hope you enjoy.

Peace in Wildlife

The water from the fall mixed with her tears

Rolling down her face, joining her fears

The niche in the rock behind the fall

Made a hiding place behind a water wall

Coming here often to process and think

Analyzing her life when it would stink

The noise of the fall soothed her pain

Blocking out voices calling her name

By the fall’s edge, where the water is calm

Flowers grow wild as a soothing balm

Reminding us through difficulties in life

Peace and joy can be found in wildlife.

G. A. Neal

I sincerely hope you can find away to find that peace you need to survive this world and may you always remember some of it can be found in being kind. Kindness has a way of turning negatives into positives.

Enjoyment in the Swing

Recently I had a friend put up a yard swing for me. A little gift for me from my tax return. Yesterday and today were gorgeous days so I got a lot done in my yard, for tomorrow we are expecting rain. Thought I would share my views from my swing.

You can’t really see the flowers much from these pics, so I will include a few.

My lilacs are in full bloom and the yard smells amazing. The bees and butterflies are hanging close to them but would not be still enough for pictures. Guess they are a bit camera shy.

This is a new flower for me – Lavender Stream Lobularia. A small light-scented cluster flower with 4 tiny petals on each tiny flower.

I have always been fond of Verbena and this rich purple is really nice. Evidently the squirrels like it too. I had to move it to a place where they could not climb in to it to nap. The cool colors of spring are still the favorite. Once summer gets here, we will change to bright yellows and reds.

The downy woodpeckers have been fun to watch, hanging precariously before learning how to stand on the thin wire stand.

The beauty and enjoyment of spring I can now enjoy as I slowly swing and relax. Have a wonderful week and remember to always be kind.

Sycamore No More

I was awakened this morning, a morning I had hoped to sleep in, but no, loud equipment kept me from being able to do that. As I looked out the window, I saw it was tree-trimming people. I was amazed at how two men were going to take down my neighbors huge sycamore tree. It was a beautiful tree and I had taken many pictures of it during the changes of the seasons. It was easily 100 feet tall and the trunk was close to 10 feet in diameter. Here are pictures of its glory this fall and again last month during the snow.

I watched for a while amazed as two men and a laptop-type device controlled a mighty crane. Little by little it took the tree down. It also saddened me how such a beautiful tree had become diseased and a danger to life around it. A sycamore is a tight and heavy wood and as the trunk sections hit the ground, you could feel the ground shake. So, yes it could cause some damage if a storm were to take her down. But it still made me sad so, I wrote a poem to it. After that, I am posting some of the pictures I took as she came down.

Sycamore No More

The beauty we saw that you once had

Has left us forever and we are sad

The base around your mighty trunk

Started to rot and the ground sunk

We heard them come, early one morn

Removing your limbs, our hearts are torn

But we knew the dangers if we let you stay

Winds could break you, your limbs could sway

Watching in sadness, as they took you from us

You said not a word, you made not a fuss

We felt the ground shake while graceful your limbs fell

No longer raised to God, no longer here to dwell

I am a firm believer that all things created by God at some level only, known only by Him, can communicate with Him. And all of His creation is beautiful. Here are a few pictures of the technology now used to take down a tree.

May we always enjoy the beauty of a tree, with the shade it provides, the colors during the different seasons, and even in its death, it provides lumber for building and kindling to keep us warm.

I close with the reminder to be kind. Even trees share and also need kindness.

FOTD, July 13, Death Storm

If you have been reading my post this summer you will know that due to heat, dryness and squirrels, I have not been able to get my sunflowers at the church sunflower circle to grow. Finally three plant were able to emerge and Wednesday one was starting to bloom. It was a color I had never seen before – kind of sunset red-orange.

Then about 11:00am a storm came through and toppled her to the ground. It broke off at the base. It had 12 blooms on it which didn’t help its weigh ratio against the wind. So I took the blooms off and put them in a vase hoping that some of them will finish growing enough to open.

This has not been a year for sunflowers, however, the tomatoes are loving this dry hot weather. Last year they were pitiful because it was too wet. Well, maybe next year we will have a full sunflower circle.

I close with a reminder to always be kind. You never know when your one small act of kindness will be the encouragement someone else will need.

CFFC: Birds

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge fits right in with my yard this week…birds. I have learned a lot about birds this year as in the birds you wants verses the birds you get. There are two major things that dictate that, the type of food and the type of feeder. Some of these pics are repeats but they tell and explain the reason for their repeat.

**Platform feeder with red** ***house finches***

This feeder above had belong to my sister so it has sentimental value as well as interesting feeder options. The platform feeder draw those birds who usually feed on the ground.

I enjoy the mourning doves but not so much the chipmunks. Also a big fan of the platform feeders are sparrows. Since they are also ground feeder, they love the platform feeders as well. What a lot of amateurs’ like me don’t understand is that sparrows, while they are cute, they are take over birds, meaning they run everyone else off with their sizable gathering. So I changed feeder types…

But I didn’t read the fine print of my research. To distract sparrows, you need tube feeders with less perching options. Then maybe they won’t end up inside the feeder. Silly bird. Food type is also important. Your basic mixed bird food also draws in other non-bird feeders to you station.

So I learned that squirrels don’t like safflower seeds and other birds do, so we swapped to that and at least eliminated that particular pest problem. Now to be rid of sparrow problem or at lease tone them down. Switch to thistle seed. This seed is a favorite for finches, juncos and chickadees. The seed stackers are also an option and they come in “hot” flavors to distract squirrels.

So the drawing paper is out for new yard design for next spring to add in other types of feeders while still allowing the sparrows to come play. The air is cooling (finally) so the thistle seed will come out as it adds for the energy nutrients needed for cooler weather. When it really gets cold, we will add out the suet feeders with the extra fat needed for warmth.

But we cant leave our bird story until we also show our zippy friend…

Of all the hummingbird feeder I have tried, I like this one the best. I have one at the house as well as at the church. So regardless of the birds you enjoy watching, remember they are also a gift of creation, so remember to always be kind to all kinds.

Some other pics of birds…

Animals Have Trials too.

We all know this is a fact that the animal kingdom is always in self preservation mode from predators or from “friends of like kind” who want what they have. Greed knows no limits of creature types. Today we are talking about a few creatures that came across my path this week. I am choosing to highlight their paths of possible doom to highlight that kindness can stretch across all specie types. While I don’t have a picture of doomed fate of this butterfly, I did manage to save it from drowning in the birdbath.

***His wings stuck together due to be so saturated***

After a couple of hours in the sun, he was able to completely dry and fly off to his next error of judgement for his very short life.

I work part time at my church answering the phone so of course I set up bird feeders outside my window. I have share many photos of the antics the birds, squirrels and rabbits do there. They do keep us entertained. But yesterday…well, I am not sure what to say or be able explain how this happened, However, my gut tells me somehow there was a squirrel involved.

He was quite terrified as I approached to release him from his trap but finally I was able to turn the feeder upside down and he scrambled under a bush. Twenty minutes later, with a full feeder, they were all back eating. I am sure he was part of the group.

Now this next creature was not so fortunate in getting rescued as this stairwell of the church is seldom used but alas somehow he managed to get inside of it and find no way out.

Bats really are quite interesting creatures and watching the Zoo shows on TV, it reminds us they are vital to our environment. They eat lots of skeeters. We hope we don’t have bats again in the bellfry of the church. Not a fun thing to deal with.

The last creature, the tiniest of the creatures, is the winner of the fight. After an extended fight over who owned the feeder, there was a clear winner.

Maybe that is just under plumage but it looked to be missing feathers. Seems the same bird is clearly marking this as his for the better part of the week.

There are so many wonderful things going on around us in nature. You just need to open you eyes to see them. Embrace the beauty you see, help when help is needed and always be kind.

Hummer…Not a Hummer

Today was a day of much needed rain, a good slow soaker. So not much activity at the feeder. But yesterday…

***Hello. I am Harry Hummer. I am resting on the peanut feeder keeping guard over “My” feeder***

But there was another visitor to the sugar water feeder…

***Crafty little creature***, **Little** ***George.***

I could not figure out why he chose to be there, so I did a little research on what mantis eat. This must be the season they are really coming out or maybe they are just extra hungry. Below is a big one that visited the church.

My research tells me they eat all kinds of insects, grubs and even the occasional small bird. Small bird…a hummer is a small bird. Well maybe Big George, but surely not Littler George. Still I am not taking chances.

***Little George getting more into attack position***

Research said they eat things bigger than themselves….okay, not having that. So I went outside and shooed him off. I didn’t hurt him, just made him leave that spot. I enjoy my hummers way more than any bug.

I close with a reminder to always being kind. Even a smile can take the hardness out of someone’s day.

FOTD, September 11, Lily

Cee welcomes us all to join in on her challenge to share the beauty of the flowers around us. I am sharing 1 flower, a lily that is in a vase of flowers I was given. The lily shows its stages as one of the buds opened throughout the day. Hope you enjoy.

The first shot was about 10am this morning. The tight bud of last night now is showing cracks of opening.

By lunch, the flower was showing progress as it began to roll out its petals.

By the end of the football game I was watching, one side was completely open.

By early evening it was fully open taking taking a good 10 hours from bud to flower. An amazing beauty to be enjoyed.

Always remember the beauty of kindness. It really can change the momentum of the day.

CFFC: Nature

Cee’s challenge this week is a favorite – Nature.

There are so many directions to go in….

***Nature can unleash a fearful torrent***

***Nature displays objects from elegant to crafty***

***Nature shows seasons of growth, change and rest***

Nature is a gift from God for us to enjoy each day as we open our eyes to see the beauty that is in front of us, regardless of the season. We people have a nature and the strongest component is kindness.

Not A Bird

There are many of us who enjoy watching our birds. We learn which foods bring which birds and how to keep squirrels out of your feeders…but when you have a platform feeder, that brings on other challenges. Below you can see that George is non too happy that Chippy is in his feeder.

***I am not sure a slinky works in this instance.***

The Slinkies work great on the pole feeders. I put one on the feeder at the church and have not seen a squirrel since. If you are having squirrel issues, try adding a slinky to the pole. A lot cheaper than those weighted feeders.

Wish I had seen how Chippy climbed up the concrete blocks but I didn’t. I let him eat for a few minutes and then let Daisy out.

Since I lost the majority of my sunflowers in the storm on Saturday, The flowers that had already gone to seed I laid out for the birds. They are messy little critters but I am glad they are enjoying them still.

My favorite visitor to those seeds are the Goldfinches. Their bright yellow color with the sunflowers is amazing.

I am not that great of a photographer but my phone does at least give me pictures to make me smile. So I encourage you to enjoy your birds…and non birds. They are all part of God’s creation and meant for us to enjoy.

And as always, remember to be kind. It blesses your heart as much as the receiver of kindness.