Singing Despite Adversity

A Ligustrum grows near the side of my home, and like most of the scrubs this time of year, it's flush with flowers and dark green foliage.  It provides the perfect environment for a bird to build their nest and start a new family.  So it has been for the past few years.  Several generations of Mockingbirds have built nests in this shrub, laid eggs, hatched a new generation and eventually seen their new hatchlings off into the world.   This year is no exception to the new brood that occupies my attention.
This morning while sitting on the front porch listening to the Mother Mockingbird I was struck with such a feeling of love for where I live, thankful for what I have, and felt a bit guilty for some of the complaints I voice within my inner-self occasionally.  This Mother Mockingbird was singing as if all was well in the world, yet I knew she had lost a baby just the day before when our cat had grabbed one of her babies that fell out of it's nest. The cat acting on instinct instantly sank his teeth into the back of the baby bird and ended it's life, yet here this Mother was singing and bringing happiness into my life.  It gave me pause to contemplate where her happiness originated, and my own life.
What if people were more like this Mother bird shaking off the sadness that will come to everyone's life eventually.  What if we could turn our thoughts away from negativity, and instead be thankful for the blessing of life?  In our own way, what if we cold sing in the face of adversity and inspire others without condition?  I was given the gift of an epiphany this morning.  No one can guarantee life is fair, but life has been granted to us regardless, and it can be beautiful.    

Sunday Ramblings

I love my wife, my family, friends, babies, and photography.  Kind words are lasting, as are harsh words. As I age, I like to remember kindness more than not.  If listening to a grown man talk about flowers is perceived as weakness on his part, then you don't know me.
My second life began when I discovered Okinawa in 1990.  I don't know why it took so long to find. I had spent 35 years of my life not knowing my true North.  Life seems to have become simpler and easier since finding home.  
My future is secure. My children and grandchildren are likely to inherit from me some of the qualities and pleasures of travel, flowers, speaking kind words, and love of family.  I don't worry they will stray too far from this path.  I have not walked this path by chance. I am certain the path was already laid by my Mother and Father. I found pleasure in the beauty of fresh cut flowers from the yard.  My Mother always had an arrangement of seasonal flowers on the dining table.  I still remember lying outside on the hood of our old Studebaker looking into the still, dark Mississippi night trying to find the Big Dipper and the North Star with a pair of binoculars while my Daddy would coach me along. I miss the hood of that old Studebaker, the silence of the night, and my Daddy's presence.
Wisdom often comes in whispers, so listen to your heart, speak to God, whomever that might be, and if your muse comes calling, answer without haste.
These are a few Sunday morning thoughts from the heart.

Midnight Marsupial Munchies

Our cat, Bubs, lives outdoors most of the time. He's got a nice setup really. A heated pet bed on the front porch, always fresh water, and of course a bowl of food standing at the ready. I try to bring in the bowl each night before I go to bed to discourage other animals coming up in the night and eating from Bub's bowl.  Last night I forgot until late in the night.  When I went outside to retrieve the bowl, I could see tiny animal footprints around the bowl that wasn't a cat's footprint.  It was a slender footprint, with long toes.  Being raised in the South and being around animals all my life, I recognized the footprints as an Opossum footprint.  Anyway, I brought the bowl in and went to bed.
This morning upon awakening I went outside to say hello to Bubs and bring him breakfast.  That's when I noticed a dead Opossum in our front yard.  I quickly disposed of the body in the woods in front of the house by the lake.  Bubs takes his food seriously I guess.  Being 24 pounds of all male cat (well OK, he was neutered as a young cat) he had no problem in handling the likes of a freeloading Opossum.  I felt bad for the little guy, but in nature the strong survive.  I don't worry too much about Bub's, he has proven over the years that he can take care of himself.

Broken Seraph

I know an angel who's on my mind
with a heart of gold and oh so kind
a lovely smile and a pair of wings
to me she's more than anything

But now she's broken and cries at night       
and if she'll let me I think I might
teach her how to laugh and sing
so I'll lift her up and mend her wings

Time will pass and heal her wounds
and she'll be singing and flying soon
sometimes bad things happen, but this will pass
so smile little angel or I'll kick your ass

Carousel

This is how much she loves me I said to myself throughout the night. Allowing me to go alone to the park and ride the carousel until I could ride it no more. That is what I asked of her on the eve of Valentine's day.  A needed memory of being a young boy.  This was my desire. Perhaps a strange gift to ask of my wife...to be alone and act as a child. Sixty years had crept upon me all too quickly. As I lifted myself upon the beautiful steed, the twirl of the ponies, and the calliope began to sing to me. A young Mother with her son in her lap passed by in reflections upon the mirrored walls. I wished to be that little boy.  I wished for my own Mother.
I rode until ecstasy became pain and I could ride no longer. I rode until the dawn awakened me from my nocturnal trance. My walk home this morning was lighter, happier than it had been in thirty years.  I stopped to pick flowers for the cloisonne vase that resides on our rosewood dining table.  Merci mon petit lapin. Today I will go buy chocolates and macaroons for us to enjoy in bed.

Yellow

Bright yellow sun against a clear blue sky
sea oats sway as gulls pass by
sugar white sand between my toes
salty sea breeze that gently blows

A girl walks by in a saffron shawl
flaxen haired beauty like a young Bacall
children chase retreating waves
life is good in these golden days

Late in the eve the sun sets low
melting to the west in an umber glow
A place called home where all is mellow
my corner of the world that's bright and yellow

Tear Down This Wall

November 9th marks the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.  A wall that separated ideologies, families, and freedoms.  A wall that separated the have and have nots.  A clear man made demarkation between class structure.
Now twenty five years later, absent that 12 foot wall, children from the west play with their eastern neighbors, fields of wildflowers spread unabated from one side of the road to the next, and families are whole.
It gives me hope for our generation that such separatist ideologies can be overcome.  I listen for a voice that rises up and speaks in such unison that change is inevitable. That gives me hope for the world we all share. A rising up of a voice that will not entertain the tolerance of suffering, separation of class, religion, race, or sexuality.
I wish for a day when those that  judge will realize that all people suffer in some way.  I and many of my friends served and gave much in the military to ensure equality for all.  Don't judge, better yet...accept and love. Tear down the wall.