He’s back

I was so excited this morning when out the window I saw on a far branch my winter friend robin redbreast!  Too far for a picture, but just knowing that he – or his offspring – have returned was enough.

 

It also is the day my dad was born – a day for remembering what was: as a friend said, it’s in the past and we can’t go back, to which I replied, “yes, but it’s our past that made us what we are and that allows us to go on”.

 

Look for the bright spots in this winter dark and you’ll find them.

 

iStock image Andrea_Hill | Crédits : Getty Images

 

 

Having it all…

Both cats and birds…

Several weeks ago now, my younger son and I went to the local animal shelter and after two hours of petting

them all (the people there said that most of them wouldn’t let us – we were the exception that proved the rule as they all followed us around making the decision very difficult), of weighing the pros and cons, we finally chose two sisters (wonder if we were influenced by the fact that originally we had had two sisters?).

It is lovely to have cats back in the house (remind me of that when I complain about changing kitty litter twice, if not more, times a day!). At first I had to keep them in the basement with their food and water and kitty litter and they were very skittish.  Now they have settled in and have access to all the house except the two attic rooms as both sons are allergic and need a place without cat hairs.

They each have their own personality: Cléa is the bossy one, the one most likely to come running at any noise (hey it might be food you know – never mind that the dry cat-food bowl is always full. She also thinks that basically she is a human baby, crawling into my lap and turning over to be cradled. Babette is shyer and puts up with Cléa’s cleaning her, pushing her off my lap, grabbing the biggest bowl of food and the like. But when Babette can have my lap she likes to curl up head tucked into my elbow or sprawl out over my lap with her head draped over my arm (typing can be a challenge).

Cléa

Babette

One of Babette's favorite positions

In the two years where we had no cats I had put up a bird feeder and this summer in preparation for cats had no longer filled it.  However, as it turns out, these cats were raised in an apartment so I re-positioned the bird feeder in front of my office window and am enjoying the rare privilege of having both (Cléa kind of wonders when she sees them flittering out the window, but Babette takes it in her stride).

Full house

Sometimes the birds are joined by the resident squirrel as well: work is never boring.

King of the bird feeder

Shelling and dropping - the pigeons appreciate the crumbs

 The photos of birds and squirrels were taken through the window so the quality is not of the best, but one gets the idea.

Happiness is… or

At least for this moment.

Three smooth flights: all on-time and with sufficient transit allowed to not have to rush to catch the next one (o.k. it made for just as long of a day as going all the way to the West Coast of the USA with only two flights). I didn’t dare say it by the time I was waiting for the last one, but I have rarely had as easy a trip.

Laying vertically after all those flights and a 24-hour day

Seeing the moon out the window over the mountains as I lay in bed.

Waking to see the rising sun out the same windows (guest bedroom has a whole wall of windows looking out over the surrounding mountains: not a road, nor person in sight, only trees and nature. It is hard to sleep under those conditions as one could spend the whole time just enjoying the view.

Being able to get into the walking trousers that I had left behind (see former blogs about recent not-so-much-a-diet as a got-to-come-to-grips-with winter kilos. Now I didn’t say that it is a pretty sight, but at least it was doable.

B & K’s having gone to the trouble of buying me a lemon for my morning drink (o.k. no juicer meant that I had to get creative, but peeling and cutting into chunks and putting through a garlic press certainly did the job: as they say, necessity is the mother of invention); of having also pointed out to me the various coffee options available in the house.  Not my only addiction, but perhaps the best known one is my need for a cup of coffee in the morning and somewhere in between 15:00 and 16:00 in the afternoon.

Taking a walk around the “loop”: my brother’s street circles at the top of Monte Sano (appropriately named meaning as it does “health mountain”). The temperatures were perfect for a light sweatshirt and a brisk walk. Enough low-level up and down for me to feel that I have had a walk: there were birds that I don’t have at home such as red cardinals, robins, but there were other more house sparrow types that I do have; the trees and vegetation is in about the same flux of spring as at home; the streets still quiet.

Knowing that I have three whole weeks to enjoy being here.

Having family and friends who are always willing to house-sit and keep the home front secure.

Happiness is: also tempered, and thus made more precious, by not having Domino to walk with me; thinking of favorite walking spots and missing the beach by my younger sister. Losses make us appreciate even more those who remain, both human and animal.

But this happiness won’t be denied: my current waves of the stuff could warm many a corner if I could only think of a way of canalizing it.

Happiness is: being alive to enjoy it!