BIRDS MATTER

The songs and colors of birds fascinate me.  I enjoy watching ruby-throated hummingbirds drinking nectar at a feeder.  Their acrobatic dances and wings rotating like helicopters amaze me.

Birds inspire poets and wordsmiths.  One of my favorite poems is:  "Be Like the Bird," by Victor Hugo:

Be like the bird who

Halting in his flight

On limb too slight

Feels it give way beneath him,

Yet sings

Knowing he hath wings.

The lovely songs of birds also inspire composers.  I love the hymn, "On the Wings of a Dove."  Another favorite is, "I'll Fly Away."

Our feathered friends also inspire painters, craftspeople, and photographers.  Quilters even create patterns after birds such as:  "Turkey Track," "Ducks and Ducklings," and "Flying Swallows."

I know my blogger friends who are very talented, can add other quilt patterns created after birds.

Besides inspiring quilters and artists, why do birds matter?

According to Nikki Belmonte, education coordinator, for the Atlanta Audubon Society, birds matter because:

They help disperse seed

They pollinate flowers

They clean-up dead animals

They are ecosystem engineers

They help control pests and insects

They indicate what's happening in the nature world

What can we do to attract birds?

Birds must have food, water, shelter, and nest sites.  Many of my blogger friends have bird feeders and take beautiful photos of birds.

These are great ways to provide sources of enjoyment and important connections with the natural world.

Birds Matter!

FRANKIE'S FLOWERS

Miss Frankie's flower garden welcomes parishioners to Pilgrim Baptist Church in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  She plants, waters, and weeds her flowers with loving hands.  It's like a taste of heaven savoring this rainbow of flowers at this country church. 

 

I hope my blogger friends have enjoyed Miss Frankie's flowers.  She loves to work in them and to  provide a beautiful setting for folks to worship and to commune with nature.

WILDFLOWERS

Coneflower

Pink Coneflower

Tiger Lily

Daisies

  Could anyone identify this flower?  I think it's a Lobelia.

Honeysuckle

A Field of Poppies

Wild Lupine

I hope my blogger friends have enjoyed the wildflowers found in my region--the Blue Ridge Mountains.

HIDDEN BEAUTY

Sometimes we fail to recognize the treasures of nature.  Usually I  rush past the wildflowers peeking from weeds beside our road.

Yesterday I took a walk and observed the wildflowers.  They danced with streamers in the wind.

The performers wore colorful costumes of lime, lemon yellow, tangerine, grape, and vanilla.  Each little flower played an important role in this show.

Suddenly deer appeared from the woods.  They flicked their tails and savored the grass.  Honeysuckle perfumed the mountain air and carried the cooing of a rain crow.

Wild turkeys took center stage in our neighbor's soybean field.  The birds pecked at seeds and bobbed their heads as they high stepped across a banquet table.

After my walk, I decided to water the petunias on my porch.  I started when a brown thrasher flew past me.  I discovered a nest with eggs in the flowers.

I'm glad I took time to enjoy the beauty of nature.

APPLE TREE

Climbing into the arms

of an apple tree,

my favorite book in hand,

the fragrance of blossoms

pulsed on a breeze.

My hiding place

among a canopy of leaves,

the rain crow cooed

in the forest, predicting rain.

On summer days,

the apple tree offered

a cool shade,

a place for picnics,

savoring fried apple pies.

Great-Grandpa Dallas Matheson

planted an apple orchard

above the frost line

on Shewbird Mountian.

Great-Grandma Martha Matheson  dried fruit:

the horse apple, hog sweet, red June,

striped June, striped May, pumpkin apple,

queen pippin, pound apple, black beauty.

Each spring the apple trees rejoiced

and washed the woods with

a blanket of snow.

--Brenda Kay Ledford

   

AZALEAS

Our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Carter, have a lovely rhododendron garden.

They graciously allowed me to photograph their flowers.

I hope my blogger friends will enjoy these azaleas.

I hope my blogger friends have enjoyed these flowers.

MOTHER'S DAY

Many times after working all day, Mama's head hardly hit the pillow, when she jumped up to care for a crying baby.  Sometimes she stayed awake all night.  Her child came first.

Mama sacrificed a lot for our family.  Many times she gave her Baby Ruth candy bar to one of us kids, claimed she didn't want it.

She also ordered us to rest under the shade of the old oak tree when we worked in the garden.  We dug dirt, snapped beans, shelled peas, and shucked corn--the fruits of our labor on the farm.

I recall often when I washed the dishes, Mama said, "Let me have that cloth!  I'll wash the dishes.  Do your homework."

Additionally, Mama made my sister and me clothes on the treadle sewing machine.  I asked why she didn't make herself a new dress.

"Oh, I don't need a new dress.  I want you girls to look pretty," she said and her cornflower blue eyes sparkled.

Mama demonstrated the love of God by caring for our family.  She worked hard.

One of her favorite sayings was:  "You need to put a little love into your work."

Now Mama's hair is white as apple blossoms, and when she smiles, it's like the fragrance of roses wrapping everyone around her.  She's a mother figure to many people at our church, and to our community.  Her love has never failed me.

A mother's love is something that no one can explain.  Only God could fashion a mother's love.

I wish all my blogger friends a very Happy Mother's Day!