Watch the Starlings

I look out of my kitchen window every morning to watch the starlings who are now at this time of year in a battle of wits to take over the nest boxes for the coming Spring, when they will once again be raising their young. On this particular morning I looked out of the window and saw a starling hanging by it's foot out of the opening of the nest box, I was quite concerned about this as I thought it had caught it's foot on something. I grabbed the binoculars to get a closer view of what was happening. To my astonishment,  I saw that the starling fluttering about the opening of the nest box was being held by another starling inside the box. I decided that this was a warning to say "I got here first, go away!" I would have to assume that is was the female who was doing the attacking, being very protective of her home.There are two nest boxes next to each other and it would appear that we have quite a few starlings trying to get into the boxes to stake their claim. I will be watching with interest over the next few days in the hope that peace will once again prevail and the birds will accept their loss or gain of a home and settle down.

A little poem I found:

watch the starlings
synchronizing
their collective dance..
each bird deciding for the all
each on the edge of 
chaos and fall..
local decisions on moving 
coupling a mysterious
non-local intuition.. 
all spurring our wonder 
our disbelief

watch the starlings
once more..
locate where you now stand
my edge in my time
absorb the starling's miracle
murmuring our own 

murmuration

Enjoy your day

Communication Breakdown

Iris from the garden

I have had a feeling of being cut off from the world for the past two days. I have had no internet connection and have had little or no contact with my online friends apart from using my mobile data which I might add was not instant and instead took hours to send.

How can one become so attached to all this technology and feel lost without it? I think we have become so dependent on all these different devices to keep us in touch with what is going on around us and have forgotten that there are other things we can do to keep busy and occupied. Having said that, I now have my internet restored and I am feeling quite at home once again with my laptop and tablet! Messages, emails, web surfing, blogging etc. Sounds like I am back to normal, whatever that means..........


A couple going on vacation but his wife was on a business trip so he went to the destination first and his wife would meet him the next day.

When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a quick email.

Unfortunately, when typing her address, he mistyped a letter and his note was directed instead to an elderly preacher's wife whose husband had passed away only the day before.

When the grieving widow checked her email, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.

At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note on the screen:

 Dearest Wife
Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival tomorrow.

P.S. Sure is hot down here.
:mrgreen:


Have a busy and interesting day

Too Much to Say

I have always been blessed or cursed with a spontaneous need to talk and a mind full of questions. At an early age I remember wanting to be with the adults who seem to have much more interesting topics of conversation than that of my siblings or young friends. Not that I understood much of what was being said, I just enjoyed being with older company. I imagine this would be the reason I kept hearing "you are older than your years". 

However, growing up and entering the workforce, my tongue seemed to be more controlled and I hardly spoke until spoken to. Of course that changed very quickly as I got to know people.  I was a very shy person but when I got into a conversation I found my tongue again and out poured all this talking!  I actually put this down to being self conscious and felt uncomfortable with silences, albeit, I am a good listener when one can get a word in.......I was never very good with 'small' talk and felt a conversation had to have meaning. Anyhow, I feel more at ease these days as I now walk, read and write a little and I take the time to think more rather than talk too much. I still like to have an opinion and that will not change. 

A little folk tale to ponder -

A turtle lived in a pond at the foot of a hill. Two young wild Geese, looking for food, saw the Turtle, and talked with him. The next day the Geese came again to visit the Turtle and they became very well acquainted. Soon they were great friends.

"Friend Turtle," the Geese said one day, "we have a beautiful home far away. We are going to fly back to it to-morrow. It will be a long but pleasant journey. Will you go with us?"

"How could I? I have no wings," said the Turtle.

"Oh, we will take you, if only you can keep your mouth shut, and say not a word to anybody," they said.

"I can do that," said the Turtle. "Do take me with you. I will do exactly as you wish."

So the next day the Geese brought a stick and they held the ends of it. "Now take the middle of this in your mouth, and don't say a word until we reach home," they said.

The Geese then sprang into the air, with the Turtle between them, holding fast to the stick.The village children saw the two Geese flying along with the Turtle and cried out: "Oh, see the Turtle up in the air! Look at the Geese carrying a Turtle by a stick! Did you ever see anything more ridiculous in your life!"

The Turtle looked down and began to say, "Well, and if my friends carry me, what business is that of yours?" when he let go, and shattered his shell into a thousand pieces.

As the two Geese flew on, they heard the people say, when they came to see the poor Turtle, "That fellow could not keep his mouth shut. He had to talk, and so lost his life."

The moral to this little tale is, simply this, by saying too much, someone could be hurt, you could lose friends and or family, or at worst someone could lose a life. So, perhaps we should learn when to keep quiet and listen to our inner self.

Have a thoughtful day

There is Always Someone Worse off than Yourself

A little river in our garden after a tropical downpour
The volcanic soil soon absorbs this much to our delight!

Cyclone Cook has hit New Zealand with a vengeance. Many parts of the country are in a state of floods with families having to evacuate their homes. Farmlands swamped and animals having to be rescued. Where we live in Northland, we have not been hit as hard, having said that, we have had much rain and some roads have been closed due to flooding, but we are so much more fortunate than others. It is times such as these that we as a nation reach out and lend a helping hand..

A little tale to ponder:

The Hares were so persecuted by the other beasts, they did not know where to go. As soon as they saw a single animal approach them, off they used to run. One day they saw a troop of wild Horses stampeding about, and in quite a panic all the Hares scuttled off to a lake near by, determined to drown themselves rather than live in such a continual state of fear. But just as they got near the bank of the lake, a troop of Frogs, frightened in their turn by the approach of the Hares scuttled off, and jumped into the water. “Truly,” said one of the Hares, “things are not so bad as they seem: “There is always someone worse off than yourself.”

Have a pleasant day - and spare a thought for those less fortunate than yourself

Friendship

This past weekend was spent with friends that we have not seen for six months. The girls went walking on native bush tracks and the boys went for a game of golf. We all had such a lot of catching up to do, but it was like we had seen each other only the other day. How nice it is to have such friendships that one can feel so comfortable with and be able to share a laugh and chat with such ease. All too soon the wonderful weekend came to an end and our friends made their way back home, with promises of catching up soon.



Once there were two friends going through a forest. Being in the forest they knew that there could be a danger of being attacked by wild animals. So, they decided to keep close to each other and promise to remain united even if they got into a dangerous situation.

Suddenly, while they were on their way, they saw a very large bear approaching them. Both friends got scared but, instead of staying with each other, one of the friends at once climbed to a nearby tree leaving the other behind.

The other friend didn't know how to climb and was left on the ground. He did quick thinking and lay down on the ground breathlessly and pretended to be a dead man. The bear came near the man and smelled his ear and left the place because bears do not eat dead bodies..

Now after the bear had left, the friend on the tree came down and asked his friend on the ground “What did the bear say in you ear?”

The friend replied, “The bear advised me not to believe in a false friend.

The moral of this little story is, A true friend is the one who always supports and stands by you in any situation.

Have a lovely day and be thankful for good friends

Three Beers

What do you need to give up and what might you embrace for a healthier lifestyle? A question we ask ourselves from time to time as we go about our daily lives. A little story that perhaps you have heard of or read but will hopefully make you smile.

A man walks into a bar and orders three beers. The bartender raises his eyebrows, but serves the man three beers, which he drinks quietly at a table, alone.

An hour later, the man orders three more. This happens yet again. The next evening the man again orders and drinks three beers at a time, several times. Soon the entire town is whispering about the Man Who Orders Three Beers.

Finally, a week later, the bartender broaches the subject on behalf of the town. “I don’t mean to pry, but folks around here are wondering why you always order three beers.”

“It’s odd, isn’t it?” the man replies. “You see, I have two brothers, and one went to America, and the other to Australia. We promised each other that we would always order an extra two beers whenever we drank as a way of keeping up the family bond.”

The bartender and the whole town was pleased with this answer, and soon the Man Who Orders Three Beers became a local celebrity and source of pride to the town, even to the extent that out-of-towners would come to watch him drink.

Then, one day, the man comes in and orders only two beers. The bartender pours them with a heavy heart. This continues for the rest of the evening – he orders only two beers. Word flies around town. Prayers are offered for the soul of one of the brothers.

The next day, the bartender says to the man, “Folks around here, me first of all, want to offer condolences to you for the death of your brother. You know – the two beers and all…”The man ponders this for a moment, then replies, “You’ll be happy to hear that my two brothers are alive and well. It’s just that I, myself, have decided to quit drinking.”

 I wonder what you would give up or embrace for a healthier lifestyle.

Three Cheers for a very healthy day.

Romance of Moon and Sun

'Under The Moon Love Comes Around'
Abstract painting by T. Ralph Taylor, UK

This beautiful painting came about when I was in a conversation with my artist friend regarding the Super Moon which was about to appear in our skies. I have always been fascinated by the moon and when he painted this abstract I knew the moment I saw it, I just loved it, and now this is the second of my friend's paintings that hang in our living room.

Let me share a lovely Wisdom Story

The moon was alone one evening, shining in the midnight sky. Although she was surrounded by myriads of tiny, sparkly stars, she felt as if there was no one to understand her. She eagerly searched the skies for a friend, perhaps a meteor, with whom to discuss the joys and sorrows of her life. But there was nobody.

On the other side of the world, the sun yawned and awoke to shine his light upon the blue-green temples of God. He heard the call to worship, and saw the waves of people bowing and praying. He felt full of good will and charity towards the masses of God’s servitors. Perhaps they were not holy, but at least they were faithful.

The moon stayed alone, suspended in the sky with none to touch her. A tiny star whispered to her of a great being, the sun, who brought joy and light to the world. She listened with interest, for it seemed that once, a long time ago, she had seen a being such as this. Beautiful as he was, the sun seemed always just beyond her reach. She would visit the places where he had been, and would always find that he had just left. Those who knew him spoke of his wonder and his glory, and she felt unworthy to be in his presence.

Now the sun was unaware of her yearning, for he was too busy making the crops grow and warming the world. Those who wished his light had only to look upward to heaven and he was there, beaming down upon them.

The moon continued to follow the sun, always coming nearer to him, always hearing that he had just left that portion of the sky, or was just over the next mountain range. Where before there was despair, now she was ever more hopeful, for she knew that she was approaching his presence.

She came closer and closer, until one glorious day came when she stood before him, naked and unafraid. The world looked up and saw only blackness – in the middle of the day. But the moon stood mid-way between the sun and the earth, and all of his glory was for her.

His light blotted out all of her loneliness, all of her pain, all of her past. She stood bathed in wonder before him, and his light filled her soul.

She passed away from him full of light and joy, and though his light was too bright to remember, it was also too powerful to forget. She was dizzy with wonder. As time passed, it seemed that she once had been a being full of light, yet it was so long ago!

Think of the moon and sun as lovers who rarely meet, always chase, and almost always miss one another. But once in a while, they do catch up, and they kiss, and the world stares in awe of their eclipse. 

Have a lovely day and moonlit night