for the birds

Today has been a PERFECT summer day in the midwest. It hasn't been too hot but is definitely summery.  The sun has shone, the breeze has blown, then stilled and come back again.  After i did my morning reading and spent a couple of hours in the kitchen and garden, i sat down in the back yard with a book and a cold drink and turned the sprinkler on the petunias, crepe myrtles, tomatoes and sunchokes.

My chair turned toward the area being watered, i actually neglected my reading because of the impromptu performance going on in front of me.  First it was the robins harvesting worms that came toward the surface of the soil in response to the sprinkler. Their appetites (and their families') being satisfied, they and their colleagues decided that it was a nice day to take a shower.  A really stunning cardinal spent quite awhile perched on the netting protecting the 'chokes, letting the water get to all his feathers, then repositioning himself to shake it off and preen on the juniper in the sunshine.  Another bird which i'm too ignorant to identify came next, bathing and flapping, then nervously flying away.  A final robin returned and picked up a worm-to-go -- carry-out for the feathered set!

Sitting here watching it all, i thought to myself -- i'm a friggin' GODDESS, as far as the plants and animals in my yard are concerned!  Having enough myself, i'm able to spare sustenance and tend the earth, so that the flowers are encouraged to put out new blooms, the trees are taken care of, the shrubs are watered and placed in sunshine, the birds fed, and even the buggies in the composter get theirs.  I love and send blessings even to the dogs barking two houses over.

Life is good.