Building Forts

 Sunday our minister started her sermon by asking if anyone had ever built a fort?  The coincidence of that surprised me because just the night before Liam and Elsa built forts out of many blankets and bedspreads in our living room to create safe nests for the night’s sleep.  They pulled up chairs and draped the bedspread over them, tucking them in on the nearby sofas.  The space underneath was secret, dark, filled with pillows and a pad and sleeping bag.  Boba, the dog, had prime pick of where to sleep.  Liam said it was his turn to sleep with Boba.  I wondered if Boba kept count?  When they settled in we found just the right light to keep on so it wasn’t scary.  Then Bob  and I went downstairs to bed too.  At first, I heard quite a bit of bumping and scraping and thumping then it got quiet and I figured they were settled for the night.  When I woke up, I got quickly dressed knowing that the first person up takes Boba out on a walk to take care of his business.  It was quiet upstairs.. All were still sleeping.  After a long while Boba found me tucked away in my office doing puzzles on my IPhone and stretched the longest stretch and rubbed open his sleepy eyes telling me it’s time to go out.  So I took him out.  Upon returning, everyone was still asleep and Boba took his position on the back of the sofa looking like a sentinel guarding his kids.  In the night, Elsa had moved up to the sofa but was hidden under many covers.  First Liam got up.  And only much later did Elsa.  The secret places did their job.  Everyone had a good night’s sleep. The nests looked like cocoons that had been vacated.   I’d not seen our living room in such a jumble in many years and these forts made me really happy.  How great it is to have grandchildren spend the night and make their forts at our house.  

An Enjoyable Morning

 This morning we went to MIddle Harbor at the Oakland Port for a bird watching trip with the Golden Gate Bird Alliance.  We had to get up early and leave by 7:50 to get there by the 8:30 start time.  I was a bit skeptical about the whole endeavor but wanted to support Bob.  Driving through the port of Oakland was surreal.  All the underpasses were graffitied.  The surroundings were suspicious.  There were big trucks everywhere and the containers on dominated our views.  But surprisingly, on the right, there was a green lovely park and that was our destination.  Lots of big money had been poured into making this park.  There were shade structures over a picnic area that looked to Bob like solar arrays.  There were lines of palm trees planted  in a row where they shouldn’t be.  There was a two story cupola in the middle of no-where.  There were paths along the shoreline.  Soon after we checked in, the group began to move toward the water.  That’s where the birds were.  We were a group of about 20 people, mostly retired age and all very nice.  We wandered slowly looking at the mudflats, first seeing a long-billed curlew, with its astoundingly long down curved bill poking along the mud in front of us.  Then there were marbled godwits and avocets with a sprinkling of coots.  The thing was that the leader was so mellow, the pace was slow and we all had time to just gaze at the birds and watch their behavior and enjoy their great beauty.  I loved it.  Enjoy was the word of the day for me.  I think I learned something in Uruguay.  I was delighted to be the first to spot a willet and a yellow rumped warbler.   In addition to watching all the many birds, we watched giant container ships coming and going from the port where the Star Wars armored transports loaded the containers onto and off the ships.  The birds were plentiful.  We must have seen more than 30 different species.   I lost count after about 15.  The views to San Francisco were astounding.  The City looked so close.  I recalled a story a parishioner from Weaverville told me about her father rowing a rowboat from San Francisco to Oakland to court her mother in the early 1900’s before the earthquake.  We had quite a long discussion about the different modes of transportation across the Bay in the early days.  Trollies to the Ferries; rowboats and now one of our fellow birders rode his bike from San Francisco to Oakland.  All in all it was a most pleasant relaxed birding adventure.  

Finding Solace

 Last weekend, a long-time friend emailed me with a book recommendation.  She said the news leaves her despairing and sad so she has started a practice of reading a bit in this book each day.  She thought I might enjoy it too.  Of course, I ordered it on Amazon and had it in my hands the next day.  The book is “The Comfort of Crows” by Margaret Renkl.  She is a nature writer living in Nashville and periodically has articles in the New York Times.  The book is lovely with short chapters about nature accompanied by very nice art.

This morning with the news of the evil-one’s victory in the Iowa caucuses, I was sorely shaken.  I’m surprised how visceral my reaction to his strong win is.  I shake.  I feel nauseous.  I feel a sense of doom.  I’m hope I’m just over-reacting.  Time will tell.  But I know, like my friend, I can’t watch much news anymore either and need solace.  

Today’s reading from the book started with “According to birding tradition, the first bird you see on the first day of the new year sets a tone for the next twelve months.”  I thought about that and remembered the first bird I saw this year was a Great Horned Owl sitting on a low branch in a big mesquite tree outside my sister’s garage.  It was very close, very large and very beautiful.  We watched it watching us with its great big yellow eyes.  My sister hasn’t seen the bird since then nor had she ever seen one before.  

I wonder what seeing this bird could signify in my life.  Owls are said to be wise.  I know they are very efficient predators.  They seem mysterious with their great big eyes and nocturnal habits.  With those and their amazing hearing, they are active through the night.  Here, I often hear them calling when I wake in the night.  Letting my imagination stir, I wonder what that owl awareness might bring in the coming months.  

Does reading the book bring me solace?  Not yet, but I do enjoy her detained descriptions of nature around her.  Nature does bring me solace.  Perhaps the reminder is to go out more often and put my focus there instead of on crazy scary politics.  

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Little Kindnesses are Big

One of the things that makes me especially happy are handmade Christmas gifts.  They come full of creative effort which I love  Liam has really gotten into making things.  He made clothes pin clips out of sticks probably using his big scary Bowie knife to carve the clip part.  I love the natural look of them and that he found a way to share his love of wood with us.  Elsa made me a mobile with smooth black rocks with hearts painted on them and butterflies.  It came all wrapped up in an egg carton.  I love that she thinks of hearts and butterflies for me.  I have a number of butterfly things from her, so maybe the butterflies are really of her.  Nancy gave me a very thoughtful gift.  She gave each of us in the family a hand chosen cookie cutter.  Sonja got a chicken, Erika a clarinet, I got a dragon fly.  In addition she gifted me a package of her homemade cookie dough to roll out and make sugar cookies with the granddaughters.  It was such a lovely thought.  Sadly they all left before we had a chance to make the cookies so I put the dough in the freezer.  Today I rolled out the dough and made heart cookies for the homeless shelter.  Once every couple of months it’s my turn to make cookies.  

Speaking of kindness, Sonja told me a story that has really stayed with me.  When she and her family were out at the Arizona Desert Museum, they went into the restaurant to get lunch.  She said there was an older woman who was alone. She ordered a great big dessert, but when it came she didn’t want to eat it alone.  So the waiter sat down at her table and ate the dessert with her.  I am so touched that Sonja noticed this interchange and told me about it.  She had tears in her eyes when she told it to me.  We remember kindnesses, especially ones that are not expected.  I think kindness changes the world for the better.  I think of the kindness going out like ripples when a stone is dropped into a pond spreading out and out.  Maybe if when we receive kindness, we then are kind in return to someone.  It makes all the difference.  

A Week in Tucson

The day after Christmas, Paul and family flew off early to Tucson, where they stayed in the Ventana Lodge.  Paul had dreamed for months of warm days and lots of tennis and pickleball. Paula dreamed of running the trails and the sauna and swimming pool.   Bob, Erik and I stayed home an extra day to bring order out of the chaos here and then flew to Tucson.  We stayed with my sister who lives in her older son’s house very close to the Ventana Lodge.  Early the next morning, we all went hiking in Sabino Canyon, a treasure of a reserve up a beautiful canyon with a stream running through it.  We took many photos of us by the large beautiful saguro cacti.  It was perfect weather so we kept shedding layers until we were all just wearing tee shirts.  Afterwards, I met my sister at her massage therapist’s office and she and I both had massages.  It was her Christmas present to me.  I especially enjoyed being with my family and hanging out with my sister.  Bob enjoyed playing pickleball and being with family in such a beautiful place.  Erik enjoyed the museums and hiking.  But maybe I’m putting words in their mouths.  Sonja especially got a kick out of driving the golf cart all around.  I was impressed by her care in getting used to it d(it was her first time doing such a thing) and then her evident skill in driving it just right.  She became the official chauffeur and my sister said she’s going to name the golf cart Sonja.  We all had a dinner by the fire pit at the Ventana Lodge.  We all went to the Tucson Botanical Garden which was a delight for the senses in many different ways.  Erik bought us all lunch at a lovely outdoor cafe.  I loved the butterflies—there was a bush that had 5 different kinds of butterflies feeding on it and also a butterfly house. We were all invited to spend New Year’s Eve with my nephew and his family who live nearby in Ventana area.  It got to be really fun sitting around the dinner table telling stories of Papa B, my father.  Erika and Sonja had never heard such stories.   And then three days later, on our last night, we were invited to a birthday dinner for my nephew’s daughter who turned 16.  All in all, it was a very special time and I’m grateful to my sister for helping make this special time happen.