Gratitude Monday --Time to Reflect

This is a quiet week, perhaps the quietest of the year, and for that I am grateful.
Nothing much happens in my local world during the last week of the year and that's fine with me.
Back in my reporting days it was almost too quiet. We still had a newspaper to fill though reviewing the year went a long way.
The down side of fresh news is the kind of thing that it might be. No one wants that at any time, least of all during the festive season.
I tend to find this slow time a good time to reflect on what has happened, to think about the possibilities in the future, and to remind myself that my life is good even during those moments when I am convinced otherwise.
Reflection is good. It reminds me of where I've been, what I've done, and what I can do about it if I so choose.
I am glad for the time to think no matter what it brings.

Gratitude Monday - Song of the Season

The best part of spring is the sound.

The sights are great, don't get me wrong, and the temperature and the warming to life of the earth are wonderful.

But the warm breezes, the frog chorus, soft rain or pounding storm, and the bird songs make the season.

For several years now we've been visited on by a pair of wrens. They nest in the bird box on the back porch, and in the bird condo out front, and probably in a few other spots which will remain a mystery to us. It is the habit of the wren to build a few false nest to throw off predators. As such they work all day every day gathering sticks and twigs and bits of whatever for their many nests. And as they work they sing. The sit on the fence or the deck railing or the clothes tree and lift their voices, and my spirits, in song.

Thank you, wren.