Robins

The 4:30 p.m. lesson has ended. Now the juvenile robin sits quietly in the sunlit lower branches of the catalpa tree waiting for its next instruction. Every so often it sharpens its beak on the limb beneath it.

Earlier, on the grass outside my bedroom window, the young robin stood observing its father. The older robin cocked its head to the side listening and then jabbed at the damp grass to pull out a fat worm. The younger robin squawked expectantly, until its father broke the worm up into smaller pieces that it could place in its offspring’s gaping mouth.

A quick snap. I didn't want to disturb her.

Directly across from the catalpa, a female robin has chosen the downspout against our house to construct a beautiful nest for her three cyan coloured eggs. For several mornings, she gathered and arranged twigs, mud and grasses—using her breast to firmly press these bits and pieces down. Amazing! She knows that you need the correct ratio of wet/dry materials to build a proper nest. I noticed that she has even woven in a pretty piece of baby blue plastic. Although she is more exposed than if she had nested in a tree, I think she has chosen wisely. It was quite blustery before dawn this morning and her nest weathered it well.

Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing here in the suburbs. But then I remember that like the robin who built her fine nest beneath the eaves, I also chose this house. Where the yard is green and peaceful, the leaves on the tall trees tremble, and the peonies and lilacs smell sweet in the spring. This house made of brick where I felt at home and safe enough to bring my own child into this world.

Little Reasons

“There are no big reasons to live. Just little reasons.”

—Kyo Maclear

Little Gifts

When I held her close, I could feel her heartbeat. 

Her hair smelled of wildflowers and moss.

Hafiz, “This Place Where You Are Right Now”

I could tell you a priceless secret about

Your real worth, dear pilgrim,

But any unkindness to yourself,

Any confusion about others,
 
Will keep one 

From accepting the grace, the love,

The sublime freedom

Divine knowledge always offers to you.

Spring Everywhere

They say that when one flower opens, 

many open at the same time, 

and it’s spring everywhere.

—Jonathan Cott

Evening in June

Spring

It was fragrant and soft—the softest air I’d ever known

—and dark, and mysterious, and buzzing. 

—Jack Kerouac

Missing You

Duality

You cannot by any means diverge from the Tao. You may love life or you may loathe it, yet your loving and loathing are themselves manifestations of life.

If you seek union with Reality your very seeking is Reality, and how can you say that you have ever lost union?

—Alan Watts

Forest Hike

Friends?

Looking over our most recent additions to the garden this morning—butterfly milkweed, heliotrope, dragon’s blood clover, and African daisies—I heard what I thought was a cat padding through the grass. I was kneeling down and the animal was so close it brushed past my sweater. The encounter was only a couple of heartbeats. Time enough for my brain to register though that it was not a large ginger cat, but a fox. The same radiant fox that pranced past my car earlier this week when I was backing into my driveway.

Illustration: David Lupton

I am in awe of this creature. It’s agile, graceful, and seems playful (naïve though I am, it might have been stalking me and at the last moment decided that I was too big to eat!). Nonetheless, it is quite something to have a wild animal approach so closely of its own freewill. Pure magic!

To continue the theme of red (passion), we also have multiple cardinal pairs nesting in the neighbourhood. I’ve become accustomed to their calls and am often rewarded with flashes of crimson soaring by when I look up after hearing a distinctive chirp.

There’s been a lot of rain this spring, hence a lot of complaining. But I love the freshness that the rain brings. The delicate smell of peonies, lilacs, and mock orange blossoms carries freely on the clean air. Soft sounds of wind chimes, nesting birds, and leaves dancing in the wind soothe and calm. Peace is in the air.

~ May the magic that is always present invigorate and enliven you. With warm thoughts for your health and happiness, Holly x ~

“Tell me about your heart,” my every word says.

Speak to me as if we both lay wounded

in a field and are gazing

in wonder

as our spirits

rise.

~ St. Francis of Assisi

Secrets

I tell the trees my secrets and they whisper back 

the most beautiful things to me…

Sometimes, it’s better to not wish, 
and just let the Universe take care of it. 

Sometimes the Universe knows better 
what’s good for you.

~ Yoko Ono

He Loves Me

How often do we take the time to truly notice the beauty that surrounds us? Look at the exquisite detail on the underside of this daisy...

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

It is the source of all true art and science.

He to whom this emotion is a stranger,

who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe,

is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

~ Albert Einstein

On Pleasure

For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,

And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,

And to both, bee and flower, the giving and

the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

~ Kahlil Gibran

Lilacs in May

                                                             

“‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

—John Keats

Not in Vain

Photo: Tina Breen

                                                                           

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain:

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

~ Emily Dickinson

Several years ago, we found a robin’s egg in our vegetable garden and to our surprise (dismay) discovered a tiny beak slowly sawing away at its beautiful blue/green shell. After countless phone calls and hours of searching for a nest to return the egg to, we found an organization that was willing to take this poor creature in. Wing & a Prayer was an organization run by Janice and Michael Enright in Bracebridge, Ontario. At any given time, the Enrights cared for hundreds of birds. These birds, that would have otherwise perished, were lovingly nurtured and eventually released back into the wild. (Regrettably, I cannot find their organization online anymore.) Just to give you an indication of their efforts though, for several weeks a robin hatchling requires nourishment every 15 minutes during daylight hours!

We never knew the fate of our little robin. I like to imagine though that perhaps one of the robins that visits us each spring is related to the one we saved. The story warms me too, thinking of my husband making the urgent 140 km trip to Bracebridge in the hopes of saving one precious bird.