Birds Are My Friends

Sometimes it takes a lot of "doing" to get to spend time "being." When we leave town for a few days, there are necessarily lots of items on the To Do List. We do it often enough, however, that our departure drill has been honed run like a well oiled machine. The kids know how this works: If they want us to plan any future trips, they need to make it easy on this mama to get us out of town. After all, if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. Five of our children, three of Caleb's friends, and our dear friends Tim and Melinda all met up in Bandera, at our little home away from home. 


Many times when we travel, we plan lots of activities. Those trips are always fun. But this time, we didn't plan much of anything. I took a stack of books and a stack of games and my camera. Sweet Melinda, a precious gift to me from God, understands well the blessing of "being" and encourages me to practice. 


So this weekend, she and I spent several hours sitting on the big front porch of an old ranch house reading and sharing our lives. It was glorious. 

And then there was the time we just spent alone. On the front lawn there was this little bitty garden basin that someone had placed under a slowly dripping faucet. It sat cockeyed, leaning to one side. At it's base were little bunny figures. Simply charming. And the birds loved to perch on the faucet or on the lip of the basin to drink. Gathering the camera stuff, a book, and a glass of iced tea I parked myself on the ground a safe distance away to try to take a few pictures. I probably sat there for a couple of hours, snapping a shot when a bird would land and reading during the waiting. It was precious. And my waiting was rewarded. These are my favorites.

From a branch above came the sound of this little fellow, chipping away at a new home.

This one was taken the next day. The weather had changed.

Of course, the rest of the weekend was filled with other things.

Just exploring

Tree climbing

Rebekah's RC fishing boat

Rock skipping contests

Apple Ice Cream in Medina at the Apple Store

Caleb's birthday party

Bow fishing

More tree climbing. I have no idea how he does it.

And for good measure, more tree climbing

From left to right, Ringo, George, Paul, and John

Swimming off into the sunset

The End.