Family Problems For Birds

Even Birds Have Family Problems

This spring a pair of magpies set up their home in a tree in our back yard.  Having been part of this kind of scenario in the past, I was expecting a raucous summer once those eggs hatched, but even I did not expect the piercing mayhem that has been inundating our eardrums for the past three or four weeks - at at all hours of the day and much of the nights as well.  Obviously even magpies have problems with their kids  -  well into their teens and beyond - according to the "bird time frame" that this piercing squawking has has been going on for - like - forever!.


Those young magpies have to have entered their "teens and beyond" by now but they must be worst "problem children" of the  bird kingdom because, surely by now, they should have grown up so that their parents can relax in peace! This has obviously not happened and those young magpies  are like some people's families.  These "bird kids" just refuse to "fly the coop"! Their poor, haggard, parents are still trying to teach them how to fend for themselves and they are apparently failing miserably at that task. It sounds to me  like  those young magpies will never, ever, grow up and will forever be depending on their parents to supply them with all the basic needs of life!

I think this family of magpies is the perfect example of  the "true dysfunctional family" of the  bird world!!!

Anxious Aging

Anxious Aging

She leans heavily on her walker

As she shuffles slowly down the hall

Uttering moans so barely audible

Moving toward an end as yet unclear.

 Searching for peace in a sea of doubting

Amid obscure objectives and dim reflections

Of days so quickly fading from her mind

And she wanders, fearful, anxious

For that certainty she can no longer find.

Youth and vitality have vanished forever.

They slipped right out from her last firm grip

Now from beyond they taunt and tease her

With tormenting visions of yesteryears

When confidence was but a simple concept

 And life was such a breeze to live.

Passing time brings fading images

Of a life that can no longer be

And she ponders this new prospect

Of  “Old Memories” as her destiny.

Vacation Time

I'm Back

I'm  back from a a wonderful  little mini holiday spent  in the tranquility of the beautiful little town of Canmore, Alberta, where Rockies tantalise you with with magnificent vistas of majestic peaks that reach up into the heavens and beautiful clear waters of the rivers and lakes below.  We spent the days sightseeing and enjoying the fresh mountain air and the beautiful scenery and I could not get enough pictures to capture the attraction of the area.  It is really gorgeous country out there and seems to have all the amenities of  a city with the atmosphere of  wilderness beauty and serenity.  Just a couple of hours outside of the bustling city of Calgary, it is the perfect escape into peace and perfect calm. What a wonderful world we live in!!!!

Blessings

Blessings Around Us

I find myself meandering

My heart  heart so full, replete 

As I marvel at the blessings

That God has laid here at my feet.

I leave behind the tribulations

Of  days so filled with care

That trip and trouble daily life

There is no reason to keep them there

I stop, inhale the peace of nature,

It sends my heart to throes of bliss 

I feel the cool of still blue waters, 

Where true presence of God exists.

I hear the hiss of breezes sighing 

They fill my soul with serenity
I sense the aura of nature's splendor
Etch indelibly into memory

I bid farewell to strife and worry
Of days and nights so fraught with fear
There is no reason to be worried
When all God's  blessings are so near !