G-O-O-D…M-O-R-N-I-N-G…W-O-R-L-D!!!

GOOD MORNING WORLD!!!!!      Thank you for popping in for a visit!

My oldest daughter Johanna lives in another province than myself. I miss her terribly!
I was thinking about her again the moment I awoke this morning…

Jo greets the morning from in bed, still snuggled cozily beneath her covers with a loud and hearty “GOOD MORNING WORLD!”  It just makes me happy.  God, I miss that!

I need to set the stage to demonstrate how my mind was working on a mere 4 hours sleep this morning.

Our bedroom is a loft.  A beautiful haven that once was our getaway from the noise and bussle of all the kids.  The noise that is now merely a memory.

My hubby built that haven just for me with a balcony that overlooks our farm.

When I’m sitting there on the balcony, looking out to the left, I can see our old fading red and white garage.  (Unused, except for storing junk now – to be honest.)  Which some day we would convert into a guest house.  (we hope)

 

Then there’s the pump house ahead with the roof slowly aging, already patched in one area.

I see a larger type of bird perched on the light standard high above the pump house…

She’s just preening.  I think it might be the blue heron that has been visiting us this past

few weeks, though I can’t be sure.  I feel like she’s watching me.

 

There is the blue roofed long barn built long ago by the hard working hands of my hubby.

In it resides only a few sheep… our outside dog Ellie and a barn cat that I don’t really care for – named Ham – by my second daughter…then a vegetarian. (don’t ask..) 

 

I watch the mist dancing above the pasture where those lazy cows idly graze in the soft dewiness of the grass.

…feel the cool morning on my skin.  I shiver some, but I like it.  It’s rejuvenating.

I smell the moisture in the freshness of the air… the crisp, clean  greenness.  I love that… unpolluted and pure.

When I look to my left and over the ravine, I find it pleasant to watch the horses munch away silently on the lush grass.

Jake and Shasta, side by side,  like two old lovers sharing breakfast together wordlessly.

But one of the most fascinating views sits immediately outside my bedroom balcony door.

We have a humongous blue spruce tree.

I mean monstrous in size, gargantuan in fact.

So big in fact that it partially blocks my view and towers over the second level of our house.  Though it does offer welcome shade in the heat of a summer afternoon. …and only 3 feet away from my fingertips.

Strong and tall…resilient.

I have always admired the softness, and lightness in colour of the new growth at the tips of each bough.
There is almost a vulnerability in the newness of regrowth, if you will.
This majestic tree houses dozens and dozens, of birds and holds many empty nests, from bird generations gone by.  I have an unusual compassion for the tree.

It has nurtured, sheltered and sustained thousands and thousands of birds in it’s time I’m sure.

Sparrows mostly, I think.

The salt of the avian world. Hardy, hardworking, resilient.

Always present, never departing from us no matter what. Spring, summer. winter and fall… always present.

It doesn’t matter the severity of our harsh Alberta weather…it could be plus 30 degrees C or minus 30 degrees C, it just doesn’t matter.

Not even when our dog Ellie barks relentlessly at the base of the tree… the birds remain.

Perhaps Ellie is trying control the incessant chirping of the sparrows.

Perhaps it is the sparrows that are teasing Ellie?

No matter what.

They stay.

They nest.

They teach their young.

They send them on their way.

And they sing.

They sing loudly, very loudly, awakening me many a morning.

I have always wondered why it is that it seems that the birds sing the loudest just past dawn. Happiest perhaps just to greet yet another day?

The spruce tree and the sparrows remind me of myself and my Johanna…

Beautiful.

Resilient.

Intelligent.

Nurturing.

Strong.

Determined.

Somewhat loud.

Happily singing.

And wholly loved around the world and back again.

Could there ever be a nicer start to a beautiful day?

So…. to all my friends out there, and to my oldest ‘baby girl’  ~

This melancholy empty nester would like to wish you all a hardy………..

G-O-O-D… M-O-R-N-I-N-G…  W-O-R-L-D!!

Like my Jo and my sparrows…I also am happy to greet another day!

It would be great to hear from you!  Drop me a line.