Birds and Blooms

Appreciating the opportunity to stop and smell the roses

As the world seemed to fall apart, I sat on my back porch more often last summer and admired the beautiful colours of flowers in our garden along with the many di erent species of birds.

It was a crazy few months. No summer trips planned, too afraid of socializing much, and even my favourite shopping trips were less frequent. I do, however, feel very fortunate that my family and I are healthy and have nothing to complain about. As hot as it was last summer, everything seemed to bloom bigger and better than previous years.

When I mentioned this to my husband, Tom, he said, “It’s probably always been this nice, we just didn’t take the time to appreciate what we have.’’ And of course there’s some sense to that. Before being quarantined, we were told to stop and smell the roses. Today, we have a chance to plant them and watch them grow before we take delight in smelling them. As much as we find being quarantined confining, it’s an opportunity to follow up on the things we’ve been chasing for so long. Crossing o the to-do list and starting another. Just like past historic events, tragedies and trying times, we will get through it the only way we know how. The only things we have left to focus on are the little things, and those little things mean a lot in these uncertain times. So smell the roses now, before you go back to thinking you don’t have time.

BUGS-EYE VIEW

Marlene Graham of Delta, B.C., writes: “This dragonfly was in my cedar tree and when I got close, it flew down to the ground. I put my hand beside it and it walked onto my hand and I gently placed it on my rhododendron bush. It then started to rain, so I went inside.

I had just assumed that the dragonfly would crawl under the flower to shelter as the rain fell. When the rain stopped, I was surprised to find that he was still where I left him, so I ran to grab my camera and close-up lens. I thought it looked so beautiful that I wanted to capture a shot. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my photo.”

HOMELESS “This baby blue jay must have fallen out of its nest,” shares Rhonda Beirnes of Listowel, Ont. “It spent a lot of time hanging out on this branch, while trying to find its way back home. We didn’t want to touch him in case its mom would disown him. We really hope he found his way back to where he belonged.”