Skip to main content

Vacation Day 2

Sometimes you just have to go for it.  Put aside all of your fears and doubts, and just do it.  It's like taking that first plunge in the pool.  You know you want to do it, but yet it may be a bit of a chilly shock at first.  It takes a few laps to warm up to finally enjoy the swim.   Then comes the moment you don't want to get out because it feels so good, and yet it's time.   How many of those plunges have I made over the years?

I'm discovering the joy of backyard vacationing.  I'm opening my eyes to all the activity and scenery right outside my door.  It's not only the summer bugs and colorful beetles,  but the jumping grasshoppers and slick lizards.  One tailless lizard seems to be more evident in my trips around the yard, such a survivor as I see him climb out of our backyard brick grill.  I've become a avid bird watcher, perhaps because I have witnessed closely hummingbird nests and births, along with blue and orange finch families that make their home under the overhang of our roof.  Of course there are the usual sparrows, but my favorite birds are the bright yellow orioles that want to drink the same nectar as the hummingbirds.  There was even one day when a spotted woodpecker was perched on the side of our palm tree.  He didn't stay long once he realized he was pecking a palm.

Squirrels still scamper along the fence and scale the taller trees and telephone poles.  I recently rescued a baby possum.  Coming home from our morning walk,  I noticed this gray and white big eared rat (so I thought), moving somewhat quickly along our backyard deck.  Then I realized he was too slow for a rat, and figured he was a lost baby possum looking for his mother.  I knew from past experience that mother possums do not rest until they have all their babies.  So looking intently into the trees and greenery, I found her perched upon our fence, silent with eyes as wide circled saucers.  I initially thought that if I'd leave them both alone, they will figure out how to reunite.  But soon I found the little guy coming my way down the stairs, and making breathless big mouth gestures.  I tried to guide him back in the opposite way, but he scampered off in his own direction between the deck and cement wall. I would just have to let them work it out on their own, as the mother possum had moved down a branch much closer.  Going about my business, I finished my morning activities inside, and as I was leaving for my day, I decided I needed to look once again around the yard to see if they had reunited.  But too my surprise the little guy was desperately swimming in our jacuzzi!  I dropped my keys and purse, running to the shed to rescue him with a shovel.  He did climb up on it and then I wasn't sure where to drop him off.  I put him up by the juniper tree, but I don't think Mom had a clue that he was there and he still seemed lost.  So scooping him up, I decided to try and lift him up to his Mom back on the fence, and of course he was a squiggly little guy who just fell off the shovel landing back on the deck.   Again, I begged for him to get on the shovel, which he did and I lifted it up toward the vine laced wall, hoping he would latch on and travel up to his Mom.  By now, I saw that Mother possum had another young possum hanging on to her back, but being a conscientious Mom, she was still concerned about her lost baby. The little guy wiggled through the vine and then a very breathy persistent sound came from the silent Mom, which seemed to guide her little one to safety.   Backyard drama at its best!

My backyard holds the best memories.   It's right here everyday inviting me to vacation in it.  I realized on lap 23 that I don't need to travel far to enjoy the goodness of time off.  I have the summer sun to bask in.  I surprise myself at the wonderful age of 60, that I enjoy soaking up the rays just like I did when I had less numbers trailing me.  I especially like to sit outside in the evening twilight, breathing in the rhythm of the restless wind, and sipping on my sage mint ice tea.  I am reminded of those evenings on the screened in porch of Granny and Aunt Lucille that I use to spend with my family during the sticky summer evenings in Peoria, Illinois. I am reliving that very moment right now, and I am blessed to be at this time in my life. . .
   

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

But . . .

  I had to pause for a moment, as I began reading the text this early morning.  But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly:  they became stubborn and would not listen to Thy commandments."  (Nehemiah 9:18).    How often do I find myself verbalizing "but? what about? what then? what if? really?" All the phrases that feed doubt and angst into my life are found in that one conjunction.  Memory stands as the faithful argument against it, but when faced with future days all seems easily forgotten.  This verse comes to a people who had returned to their homeland after being ravaged and exiled by foreign powers.  Nehemiah is reminding them of who they are, and especially of their one and only God who has forever been faithful to them despite  their faithlessness and wrongdoing.  He reminds them how God is a God of forgiveness, slow to anger, longsuffering, overflowing with lovingkindness, never forsaking them even when He was totally forgott...

Summer Breeze

  Gypsy Rose immediately prances to the back door as she hears her name.  We are ready for our morning walk, which has started later than usual, since I have some of these summer days off.  But it is still early enough to catch the morning breeze.  Walking south, I am refreshed by feeling the gentle wind all around me, it's a cool wrap in contrast to the summer sun.  But it all seems to disappear as I turn the corner and head west, my summer breeze is gone.  I am at a loss for it even as I continue north and east.  It's only as I begin the southern sidewalks back home that I am met with the blissful breeze.  I realize that though I wasn't feeling it for most of my steps, it was there all along, I just had to turn the right direction to get relief . . .  Sometimes, that is how my relationship with God seems.  Yes, I know He is ever near and is with me, but I don't feel that fact.  Sometimes my prayers seem to be in a vacuum, and I'm ...

Brief Moments of Grace

  "But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place,  that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a  little reviving in our bondage." (Ezra 9:8)   Summer welcomes me today with a cloudy cool morning and a subtle fresh breeze.  The day is probably teasing me with moderate temperatures before it will launch into more robust sunlight and heat.  The scorching temperatures have given an abundance of tomatoes, bush beans and yellow squash in my garden, while tormenting the kale, cilantro, spinach and herbs.  My refreshment is found swimming laps in the pool and teaching or rather reminding Gypsy Rose to stay in her lane while we swim together.  Days seem to run together, slip away too fast, as I often feel locked in a routine of sleep, work, cook, repeat. I know that I need to pause and reflect, because even in that daily ritual are God's brief moments of gr...