Friday 26 May 2023

Blossom

      One day a little dog with one brown eye and one blue eye decides to go on an adventure. She is visiting and decides to check out the neighbourhood. She darts out of the house between the neighbour's feet and runs as fast as she can around the cul-de-sac out front. It's fun but it doesn't feel like enough of an escapade, so she runs right past the people who are calling her name and trying to catch her and runs to the end of the road. She doesn't stop there and makes a right turn onto another street. She keeps going and runs until she gets to a boulevard and she still doesn't stop.  She makes another right turn and runs past a senior's residence and a hotel and she still keeps running. She goes past a bus stop, past a roundabout, across a bridge over a big highway and then through another roundabout. A lady from the neighbourhood sees the little dog and wonders what she is doing. There are four lanes of traffic on this road and it is four o'clock so it is very busy. There are so many cars and trucks but still she keeps running.  Fortunately everyone slows down for her but they do wonder where she is going. Some of the cars and trucks stop and let the little dog go by. One driver of a big blue semi truck pulls over and waits to see if anyone is looking for her. When she gets to a set of traffic lights two kind people on bicycles stop and ask her where she is going. At this point the little dog is starting to feel a little tired. There is a driving range and a feed lot across the street and so many new things to see!  By this time a lot of people have slowed down and stopped to make sure that she is okay. The little dog decides that she has gone far enough. One of the kind people on a bicycle has a leash. They put the leash on her and a nice man with very blue eyes decides that he will take her to somewhere safe where she can be with other lost pets.
     In the meantime, people are driving around calling the little dog's name. Some of them are friends and some are neighbours but they have no luck until one neighbour in a car finds the lady who saw the little dog at the roundabout. She picks up her mother and they drive down the street, down the boulevard and past the second roundabout. There is no little dog there. While they are there they talk to the man in the big blue semi truck who saw her run towards the feed lot. They drive there but when they don't see the little dog they keep driving until they see a lady pulled over in a pick-up truck. They ask her if she has seen the little dog and she says yes. She says that many, many kind people slowed down and helped the little dog. Angels really. She said that a nice man was taking her someplace safe. This amazing woman had taken the nice man's phone number and gave it to the neighbours who were driving around. They called the nice man and he turned around and came back and gave the little dog to her new friends. By this time she had run a few kilometres and she was feeling quite tired. When she finally got home everyone agreed that it was a miracle that she was found. Everyone was so relieved that she didn't get hurt. Everyone was happy that there were so many nice people out there. The little dog agreed and had a big drink of water and decided that one adventure was enough for now. And her family was glad!



Saturday 20 May 2023

Birds 2

     A pair of chickadees decided that the birdhouse sitting on a low table beside our front door was a perfect place to nest this spring. The birdhouse is purely ornamental (in my mind anyway); I had painted it the same colours as our house and included our house number. Never mind that this is an extremely busy and noisy thoroughfare with humans and dogs going in and out at all hours of the day and night. I should have known that something was up when Stella was poking her nose in the birdhouse opening every time she came in the front door.
     Eventually, I too noticed that things were happening inside this little home; the back and forth flight of chickadees finally made it obvious. I realized that the birdhouse would have to be raised to keep out unwanted intruders. After fretting for about a day or so, I dragged a tall and skinny bookcase outside, put a few small plants on the shelves and prayed that the aspiring parents wouldn't notice that their residence had gone up a few floors.
     They either didn't notice or didn't care and now the sound of baby birds can be heard if you linger momentarily at our front door. I am thrilled of course, chickadees being my favourite and birds in general, a love of mine. To me there is no equal to their grace, beauty and all-around coolness. Anyway this little pair of bird parents made my day, my week, my month. And no, you can't see a bird in this photo--- you just have to take my word for it. They call that faith.