Jan 10 - I'll give you jewels, money too

Today we have a light dusting of snow in the yard. I slept late because I was out last night. With my coffee and my book I sat at the table in the dining room. As I read I realized I was reading faster than I could process the thoughts I was having. I moved my gaze out the window to the bird feeders.

I almost always have many sparrows and finches. I had noticed last week that the finches were turning more yellow already. It may have been due to the warmish weather we have had here this year.

There was a tit mouse, a purple finch and a small flock of juncos or snow birds. Adding color to the display of plainer birds were five male cardinals. "That means," I said to myself, "that I have ten cardinals." Almost always you will find them feeding in pairs. Against the snow and the branches of my lilac the males show like rubies. You have to look harder to see the females in the cover as they are plainer. (Maybe bluejays are the sapphires)

I always wondered why the males were brighter in some birds. It occurred to me that if I read more books I might have known that the males are more brilliant to draw off predators from their nests where the plainer females are sitting their eggs, safely hidden in the verdur of the tree. I just thought it up myself today. It might be so that the males can protect their family. Interesting.

The other thought I had was that watching cardinals is a lot like finding the good things in your day. Some days it's easy, like a gift of jewels, to see what we have learned or been given on a gray or hard day. A kindness or learning glows like a red bird. Some days we have to look harder to find the good learning or kindness in a day. Like a female cardinal, some things are disguised for their own protection. Maybe for our protection.

By looking harder to find them we appreciate them more. By trying harder to see them we learn to look thru the bare branches and dead weeds to see the living beauty.

I will look, even on what I see as a bad day for the blessings in it. They are always there, I just don't always see them at first.