Views from Raven's Nest: Daily Reminder # 355

It rained on an off all day long again today. It's very green outside and the grass is growing too fast, but the color and all the birds and critters make my eyes happy. Chauncy Woodchuck has a friend/wife/sibling. The indigo bunting continues to shun my yard (at least while I'm watching) as does the blue birds, but the cardinals and the grosbeaks and the tit mouses and now the mourning dove seem to like it here. Gwendolyn Chipmunk spent much of the day as well. I'm pretty sure I've got her gender right. Oh - and there was a new kind of hummingbird. Cool.

Yesterday's mystery bird revealed....

I think I'll share a Neale Donald Walsh message from God, which, even though it isn't the same made me think of one of my favorite Camus quotes, which I read years ago in a book called HUMAN OPTIONS by Norman Cousins. It goes:

"Great ideas," said Camus, "come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps, then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear, amid the uproar of empires and nations, a faint flutter of wings, the gentle stirrings of life and hope. Some will say that this hope lies in a nation; others in a man. I believe, rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crude implications of history. . . . Each and every man, on the foundations of his own suffering and joys, builds for all."

On this day of your life, dear friend,

I believe God wants you to know...

...that you are making a difference, whether

you know it or not. So have no doubt about that.

You did it again yesterday. The way you touched

someone's life just yesterday made a difference. And

you are always doing that, do you know that?

Yes, yes...your smile, your encouraging word, your

willingness to just be "present" with another, has

touched people in more ways than you realize.

I only tell you this today so that you never lose faith.

Faith in how life is moving through you -- and how

you are moving through life.

Love, Your Friend....

I have always thought that the above is true. Grand gestures (which can be nice... I'm not knocking them) often have less power, less impact, than a kind word, a smile. Because of my situation, I've never had a real conversation with the man who lives at the top of the hill, but he and his wife always wave to me when they pass. It's a small thing, but it makes me part of the community. It says I'm here.

Not nice to say it, but I think the red breasted grosbeak
is prettier from a distance than close up.

And now some more pictures. There are a lot as usual, but trust me, there could have been more. Gwendolyn posed her little heart out today.

Still snubbing my feeder. I have to be satisfied with
longing from afar.... and hope that maybe tomorrow....

I know this is a flub, but I love how you can see both
positions. These guys are never still, so 9 out of 10
pictures of them are blurred in some part.