Saturday, January 10, 2015

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2006. Mattie was in his first year of preschool. That year I asked Margaret, his teacher, if I could do some sort of winter activity with the children in her class. She liked the idea and asked if I would bring in gingerbread houses. She requested two houses for her room and even gave me the molds to bake them in! What Margaret did not know was I had never baked a gingerbread house or assembled one in my life. But I was determined to do this for Mattie and his class! So I contacted my mother in law, who is an excellent baker and she shared her recipe on how to do this. Needless to say, the houses were such a hit along with the icing and candies, that not only did Mattie's class decorate them, but so did the whole preschool.... ALL FOUR classrooms got involved that day. Mattie got to take the finished products home and he was very proud of our creations and we both talked about them (and the experience!!!) for years!!!

Quote of the day: There are 2 ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. ~ Edith Wharton

This morning I woke up to a racket outside Mattie's window. I always know when the bird feeders are empty because the birds come right up to our windows to let us know they are VERY UNHAPPY with us!!! So on mornings like these, I throw on my coat over my pajamas and head outside to restock the feeders. I am sure if my neighbors are watching me, I am quite entertaining to watch! I had no idea Peter was photographing this moment, nor did I know that the birds were lined up on the fence waiting for me to get it going!!! If I had to title this photo, it would be "they are watching over me!"

Once I moved away from the feeders, there are literally sparrows every where. In the ivy, the bushes, all over the feeders, and on the fence!

You can see the sparrow frenzy! Sparrows can live for decades and I am quite sure we are feeding the same ones since Mattie was a baby. We began feeding the birds when Mattie was an infant. I was spending a lot of time at home then and it gave us something to look at from our windows that was stimulating and soothing. We got in the habit of doing it every winter. These sparrows are like homing pigeons, they come back to our deck space every winter and they seem to know exactly where to come to! These are fascinating! This winter I moved their feeders from our deck to our commons area. I wasn't sure they were going to like the new location but they have taken to it like ducks to water. In fact, I think they prefer it because they like perching on the bushes we have planted in the commons space. This space, I consider our memorial area to Mattie. To it seems fitting that this is where we now feed the birds. 

To my faithful readers, you may recognize these garden hooks that the feeders now rest on. When my 85 year old friend, Mary was coming to the end of her life, I bought her these hooks and a bird feeder. I wanted her to be able to see the birds from her daughter's window. After Mary died, I brought these garden hooks to my home and put it in Mattie's memorial garden. So now Mary's spirit is remembered with Mattie. Mary was an important friend to me, she too lost a son to cancer, and we shared that bond. When Mattie died, Mary's husband was also dying. In a way, we grieved together and helped each other for years afterward, despite our huge generational differences. 

So though this looks like a photo of just birds, feeders, and bushes, this is truly a photo with a lot more significance!