the weather was beautiful today...warm and sunny. as i was making my home after a mid-day appointment, i was driving by the park and happened to glance over and saw geese just lining the grounds. hmmmm.... i thought to self. what a wonderous opportunity for photos. i wondered how close they might allow me to get to them. so in i drove and parked. at first, they seemed fine but i was keeping my distance being pretty passive. as i moved closer, they got a bit restless but still appeared okay so snap, snap.
then suddenly, they began this quick line up to march away. it was so funny to watch. they didn't go in a flock...they literally lined up in a single file, heads bobbing as they waddled away from me as fast as could be. but not before i'd captured some pretty decent shots.
and then i heard the honking - immediately overhead and the swooping began. in waves... wave upon wave for about 10 minutes they came. in big formations and smaller formations, a site to behold. do you know how difficult it is to capture moving geese even though they are rather large birds? but i think i did okay with them... i was fascinated with how they moved, the lines they kept, how they all seemed to have their place within their bird-community. it was fun to observe these geese patterns today on the ground and in flight if only for a very small moment in time.
see the fun...
happy day.....
today is a day of giving thanks... why just one day? why not every day? i think we should set aside moments of our every day to be grateful for what we have - as human beings, as americans... to be thankful and to say thank you to those that matter... for what we have, for those we know, for the things we have.
i was driving through the city the other day running errands and was at a stop light. i happened to look up at the sky because it was starting to cloud up a bit and this is what i saw...
it reminded me then and now today how grateful and relieved i am, that i can worship freely in this country and proclaim unabashedly of the love i have for jesus and his saving grace for me. for that, i am very thankful.
i am also thankful for...
- a loving family
- a multitude of friends
- those who freely give of themselves to protect our country
- church family
- god's provision for me
- god being far better to me than he has to be
- holy scripture - that i can openly read every day
- nature
the list could go on and on... i need to remind myself to be filled with gratitude always... "...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is god's will for you in christ jesus." 1 thess 5:18 it will help to set my day - and yours too if you so choose to view it that way. that would be my prayer for you this thanksgiving day...
here is a small piece of creation specially designed for you this day... flowers are one more thing i am thankful for...
happy day.....
we get a variety of birds around the area... i was visiting a friend and yay... with rather warm temps out i was able to sit on the deck enjoying the mountain scene. the bird feeders were full so there was no shortage of the wee little - and larger - ones flying quickly in and out. i was trying to sit quietly, snapping shots with my camera hoping for good pictures.
mostly though i was marveling at how quickly they were able to grab and go. isn't that just like us humans? we grab and go with everything we do these days, don't we? barely stopping to enjoy anything... or pause to breathe... to take it in... to simply embrace what life has to offer us, be it good, bad or otherwise. we just grab. and then we grouse, because we haven't paused long enough... taken the moment we should have taken. once these birds did their grabbing, they flew off to a nearby tree to sit for a minute and chomp on the seeds they'd gotten. and to trill a little message to friends letting them know where the good stuff was at so they, too, could come and feast - take part in the eating.
i was blessed to be so near to god's itty-bitty creatures... see their markings, tiny faces glancing at me but too focused on the want of food to be afraid, the bold ones who dared to make direct eye contact... so cool.
relive some of the journey with me...
some of the top pics are of mountain black capped chick-a-dees. the one bird who has the very sad looking eyes - which i think is because i told him i only wanted to take pictures of "pretty birds" - shame on me... is a house finch, i think. it's not his fault he's on the dull side and actually "he" might be a "she." and i'm not sure what kind the "groucho marx" look alike is...perhaps someone can help with him. the ones towards the bottom are morning doves. they weren't in any hurry at all... weren't going anywhere as they just sat in the food for quite some time. you can tell because in the black and white doesn't it appear the little bird is having a bit of a chat with the doves? as if to say, "ummm, hey fellas...don't ya think you've had enough already? now it's my turn?" i think that's just too funny. i had quite the experience....
happy day.....
