I Find It Interesting…

Author: siggy

I find it interesting that sometimes for days I did not notice the birds that came to and fro feeding on my bird feeders viewed from my large living room window but sometimes I don’t.

And I know they have not stopped coming.  The sunflower seed in the bird feeder closest to my window keeps going down so I know there has been a steady stream of mostly tufted titmouse with an occasional chickadee and white breasted nuthatch feeding there.

To me it is interesting I do not always see what is right in front of me.  My mind is just elsewhere.  And how many other things do I not see which are happening in front of me because I am preoccupied?

All that is interesting to me.  I always wonder what am I missing every day because my thoughts are somewhere else…

Watching plants grow still gives me joy.  The latest discovery was observing new growth on the Norfolk Pine we had just brought in a few weeks ago.  I had bought it last year for a Christmas tree and had placed it in front of our large living room window.

It was full when I bought it but over the last winter it lost quite a few branches and became straggly.  When it got warmer (it does not like temperatures below sixty) we put it outside.

At the advent of the cold weather we brought it in the house and placed it in a different spot several weeks ago.  It must like this spot better for yesterday I noticed new growth on it.

It looks like it may survive this winter.  I really don’t take credit for this but this made me happy.  It was just a small thing but it made me happy.

The grass is not greener elsewhere.  It is so tempting to believe that but it is not.  Sometimes paradise is right in front of you.  This year I discovered a large raspberry patch within an hundred yards on the street I live on the edge of some woods.

This was to be the second year I was going to pick raspberries in a patch I discovered last year on my property.  And then I discovered this patch.  I did not know who the owners were.  The berries were wild.  I picked enough at the new patch for at least two pies.

It amazed me I never noticed that patch before.  It was ten feet in from the road and I happened to notice it when my dog was sniffing around there.  What else am I missing right under my feet?

I was going home from church and took the long way because the land was wilder and I never knew what wildlife I would see from this road.

I was not disappointed this time:  I flushed a dozen wild turkey hens.  I do see wild turkey around here but I had never seen so many at one time.  I was thrilled to say the least.

I never know for sure what discovery I will make next time.  We have thousands of books between us and there is an universe in each of them so I have no need to travel too far to explore the next universes.

And that does not even include universe after universe in my music– thousands of LP’s, cassettes and CD’s.

I never run out of things to explore.  I do not have to go to far but don’t get me wrong I do enjoy traveling once in a while.  I just don’t feel I have to.

Suddenly it struck me viewing the discounted book “501 Must Sights Of The World”.  I had no interest in exploring any of these places.  I quickly glanced at some of the magnificent sights in glorious color.

I tried to figure out why I had no desire to travel to any of these exotic places some of which I had never heard.  I was balking at even opening the book to glance through it.

Despite my reservations I bought the beautiful book anyway.  I know my wife will like leafing through it.

I could never let myself dream of traveling.  I never had the funds to travel abroad so I just did not let my mind and curiosity roam.

I knew I never would be able to.  I am the same person who told my wife never to use the word “never”.

All that quickly ran through my head as I deliberated buying the book for a Christmas gift.  There were other issues why I did not desire to travel very much but I will explore them in other blogs.

Every day is a privilege and why do I act otherwise.  I act as if my days are endless and as King Solomon says, ‘Life is but a vapor.’

I waste (our) days sometimes.  I act as if my time on this earth is infinite.  I know.  I have been there repeatedly.  I have to remind myself each day is a gift.  I know I am a master of rationalization.  I act as if I will be forever here.

It is marvelous what a shower and putting on clean clothes (and dressing nicely) does to your attitude.  I am saying today matters.  I will respect my time here.  It is truly a gift.

It is so easy for me to fall down in the dumps to use a cliche.  I really have to work at it and sometimes from the outside first and my attitude towards the day will change.

Every day I am on this earth is a privilege and I have to treat it as such.  I really matter to the one above so I have to give him the respect due and treat each day that the Lord brings me as a gift.  It really is.

I don’t want to squander the seventy degree day in the middle of November.  I checked the ten day forecast–still warm for this time of year.  Today it is going to hit seventy.  It is very unusual to have a day this warm this late in Autumn.

I want to do something unusual this day before the daylight runs out.  I have about five hours left before it gets dark.  Perhaps I will go fishing somewhere I have never been.  It can’t be too far away but I don’t want to waste this unexpected mild weather.

Weather is all by grace.  People complain about the weather all the time.  I just want to accept whatever comes my way.  The weather is always by grace.  I know cold weather will come.  This day is by serendipity.  I will just take advantage of it.

Life is composed of many small things.  The big things only come along once in awhile.  If you can’t enjoy the small things you miss a lot.  It is just a question of paying attention.

I happened to notice looking out through my large living room window a flock of slate covered juncos feeding on the ground (three to be exact).  It was only the second time in months I have seen them–the first time more than one at a time.  The advent of Autumn seemed to have brought them here again.

I was passing a house in my car and I saw their young black goat for the second time.  It was crossing the road right in front of me.  For a second it reared on its hind legs as if to say “hello” and then walked across.

Another one of their animals a hen turkey stood for the longest time in front of my car before it made it to the other side.  I brought my car to a total halt waiting for it to pass.

Theses are just three incidences but they enlightened my day.  You never know what surprises lay ahead–usually when you least expect them.  All you have to do is face each day expectantly.

Hospitality Is An Art

Author: siggy

No matter how beautiful or even drab an area we visited it is always the hospitality displayed that determined whether I enjoyed my stay.

It is never the place.  I remember how beautiful the view from my sister’s deck of Cape Cod Bay but I could not get away quick enough.  She drove me nuts with her fastidiousness.  If I spilled one drop of water on her floor or dropped one crumb of food she went berserk.  Her kitchen floor looked like you could eat off it.

That same year we visited a college friend of mine and what a contrast.  There was peace in that household.  There was no one hovering over me.  We felt welcome.  Hospitality is an art.  And you always know whose household you want to return to.

Your roots are not just the physical area you live in.  It is the memories you have accumulated in the past and continue to do so.

For over twenty years I visited Miami.  I no longer want to.  My parents lived there but now both are deceased and I have no ties there.  There is no longer any reason to go back.

I lived in Duncannon for fifteen years.  I still have friends there but it is no longer my home.  My wife and kids don’t live there any longer.  I may visit but it is no longer my home.

Our roots are the people who are the most important to us.  It is the people we reach out to every day (and who reach out to us).  It is the lives we are intertwined with.

Of course, the areas we have lived in the past we associate with certain memories.  Your roots are always invisible but real nevertheless.  And is always more than the particular area you live in.

I never forgot his words.  He gave me back my life.  I had asked my doctor, “Do I have a right to a normal life, maybe to once get married, to have kids one day?”

His response was immediate, ”You have as much right as anyone else!”  I had struggled with a bipolar disorder for over twenty years and had been in and out of hospitals.  I had felt stigmatized by my diagnosis and treatment.  And had felt cursed by my illness.

His immediate response gave me back my life.  I did not know then that within ten years I would get married and two kids would soon follow.  I never forgot his answer.

I want you to want me

Not to ask for it

All the time

(Or so it seems)

Nor do I want it

Too predictable

Too much time

Seems to go

Between

It is okay

To want you

Almost desperately

Not all the time

May there be space

Between us

Bridged

When I least

Expect it

But don’t have me

Want you

All the time