Faith, Folklore, and Friends

We keep hummingbird feeders up from early April until late October.  We have seen hummingbirds all summer, but nothing like the crowds we have had in the last few days.  I know they are migrating, and that we better enjoy them now before they are all gone. Hub fills our three feeders everyday, and the hummingbirds empty them. Could it be that this fat fellow is just showing off his beautiful neck? I have learned to keep my distance from the feeders, as these ultra-aggressive little birds defend their nectar.  It is amazing to watch. The average hummingbird weighs about the same as three pennies.  Can you imagine how small their brain is? And yet, they are smart enough to fly safely over the Gulf to winter in Mexico, then find their way back to the same feeders next year.  How awesome is that?  Five sparrows are sold for two pennies, aren’t they? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.   Why, even all ...

  Beauty doesn't always come early. Beautyberry ( Callicarpa ) would not catch your eye in the springtime, like the bright jonquils or forsythia. It doesn't send out a fragrance like our beloved lilacs and roses. In fact, the blossoms are so unremarkable, you might pass right by it at the nursery. The tiny blossoms turn into clusters of tiny green berries that continue to go unnoticed. Ah, but in late summer and early fall! In late summer, when there is that first hint of coolness in the morning air, the berries ripen to a beautiful purple that practically shouts, LOOK AT ME! If the berries remain until frost kills the leaves, they are even more striking. The birds who visit me like them so well, the berries are usually gone before the leaves. Planting beautyberries is just one way of rewarding the birds that brighten our summer days.   Sometimes, there are so many birds feasting on the berries that the bush shakes like it is ...

I have asked one thing from the LORD;  it is what I desire: to dwell in the  house  of the LORD all the days of my  life,  gazing on the beauty of the LORD  and  seeking Him in His temple. ~Psalm 27:4

Who has believed what he has heard from us?      And to whom has  the arm of the  Lord  been  revealed? 2        For he grew up before him like a young  plant,                   and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,           and no beauty that we should desire him. 3  He was despised and rejected by men;                       a man of sorrows,  and acquainted with grief;      and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised,                      and  we esteemed him not. 4  Surely he has borne our griefs                    an...

The air up there in the clouds  is very pure and fine,  bracing and delicious.  And why  shouldn't it be?  — it is the same the angels breathe.  ~Mark Twain 

One thing I ask from the Lord , this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. ~Psalm 27:4

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible. ~Samuel Johnson   May your day be blessed with beauty in the small things.  Stop.  Look closely. It is there.

W e waited as the darkness of winter relented. We waited longing for leaves, for warm nights sleeping with the window open, insect songs and the smell of honeysuckle. We cleaned debris from the deck, envisioning friends in lounge chairs, sipping iced tea. We cleaned perennial beds, searching for green. We stacked the leftover firewood, winter's detritus in a dustpan swept up like the icy wind. Summer was born, a painful birth with pangs of thunder. When summer was new, we went for walks, caught fireflies, cranked up the grill. As she grew, with heat and humidity, we ran to hide in air-conditioned rooms, and we forgot. Then, while we weren't looking, summer leaked through our lives like water through our hands. Now its dead, ended, not a trace remaining. The block party, the week-end trips, Saturday afternoon cook-outs. Horseshoe games in the backyard, building a water fountain, transplanting vines. All the things we meant to do that are not going to happen this year. God grant...

Celebrate today with Brugmansia arborea . This Angel Trumpet grows in the back yard, a beautiful toxic plant that struts her stuff in autumn. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Matthew 6: 28-29

Celebrate this day by seeing what's around you. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever . Psalm 107:1