The Spinners--It's a Shame

I saw the movie The Holiday again recently, and one of the main characters had this song as his cell phone ringtone. I grew up with this music and hearing the song again brought me right back to that time. It's a great song by a great group--The Spinners. They don't make music like this anymore. Enjoy.......

Making friends with a little robin

One of the best things that ever happened in my life so far was being gifted an allotment garden in 2016. It changed and enhanced my life in so many ways that I never thought possible. I always had an appreciation for nature, for plants and flowers, and for birds and the wildlife around us, but I never had daily contact with them in the way that I do now. As many of my readers know, I have a soft spot in my heart for honeybees, bumblebees and birds of all kinds. One of the images that will forever stand out in my mind is the memory of the honeybees and sparrows side by side on the birdbath rim, drinking water together during a particularly dry Oslo summer (2018 if I remember correctly). I have captured those incredible moments in photos that I treasure.

Fast forward to the present. I have written about the new bird feeding station that I bought for my garden so that I can feed the birds during the winter months. I go to the garden every couple of days now to fill the different feeders. It didn't take long for the small birds to discover the feeding station; after a couple of days, they are waiting in the tree branches for me to fill the empty feeders, that's how fast they eat the seeds. The little birds that frequent the feeders are the sparrows, the blue tits, and a singular robin. The robins that you see here in Norway (European robins) are much smaller versions of their American counterparts, and they are amazingly cute. I read online that it's usually the male robin who stays put during the winter months at the location where he and his mate hang out during the summer months. So I'm assuming this little guy that I see each day is the male; I don't know if he has a mate and where she may be if he does have one. In any case, I'm becoming friends with him little by little. He is not afraid of me at all. Today, when I arrived to fill the feeders, he landed on one of them right in front of me and proceeded to start eating. He looked at me, then at the food, then at me, and then at the food again. He is the first one there when I arrive, and if I move away from the feeder to another part of the garden, he follows me. He is just so freaking cute. When I was in the greenhouse today, he was in the ninebark tree to the left of the greenhouse, just sitting in the branches. When I started to talk to him, he started to warble. I have heard his song before in previous springs, and I have seen this little guy before because he has been hanging around my garden for a couple of years. I'm glad that he chose my garden in which to hang around. 

Here's a very short video of him:

Living life with a sense of humor

I read a good article in the New York Times this morning, where Pope Francis talks about the importance of having a sense of humor to get through life: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/opinion/pope-francis-humor.html?unlocked_article_code=1.iE4.W_bC.eFqE4vYNgQR-&smid=url-share

In another article that talked about his sense of humor, he mentioned the Prayer for Good Humor that has been attributed to St. Thomas More. He said that he prays it every day. I'm including it here. One thing I do know, and that is that a good laugh is the cure for a lot of aches, pains, and grumbles. When we pray for grace, perhaps we should pray for the gift of being able to laugh at ourselves and others via jokes and amusing anecdotes. I do not defend mocking others or making cruel fun of others as humor, just so that is clear; that is bullying behavior. The Pope talks about irony, which is my preferred form for humor. Irony, whether self-irony or irony directed at others, implies seeing the contradictions in different situations and being able to point them out in a humorous, sometimes sarcastic way. An ironical situation is one that is wryly amusing. We should be able to laugh at ourselves first, to see the comedy in what we do. That encourages others to do the same. 

Prayer for Good Humor

by St. Thomas More

Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.

Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it.

Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good

and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil,

but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.

Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments,

nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called “I.”

Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor.

Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy,

and to be able to share it with others.

This morning's beautiful 'mother of pearl' clouds (perlemorskyer)

I awoke early this morning, and I'm glad I did, because otherwise I would have missed these incredibly rare clouds of many colors! These clouds are called 'perlemorskyer' in Norwegian, and that translates to 'mother of pearl' clouds in English. The scientific name for them is polar stratospheric clouds; they are a very rare sight to see. That is because they occur in the stratosphere layer of the atmosphere (very high up, between 49,000 and 82,000 feet up according to Wikipedia). You can read more about their formation here: Nacreous clouds | International Cloud Atlas

I managed to get some good photos before the light from the sunrise dissipated the colors. Enjoy!

December fun in Oslo

A week ago this past Sunday, I was out walking during the early afternoon, and came across these two very different activities. Both looked like fun! The weather so far this December has been wonderfully mild and sunny, so it was possible to do both these things because there was no ice or snow. I took these videos--enjoy!

Life is a one-way street

Our lives are often referred to as the 'roads' or 'paths' we're on. Moving through life does feel like being on a road, albeit with detours that can track us off or lead us back eventually to the main road. The main road should include a sign that reads 'destination unknown'. Because although we're moving straight ahead, it's not always clear what our destination is. Some would say heaven or the afterlife, some would say a void if they don't believe in an afterlife, and others don't give it much thought at all. All of us keep plodding forward, although the word plodding implies heaviness and grimness. Life can weigh us down at times with its problems, so it's not always easy to have a light step. 

Whether we walk lightly or doggedly, one thing is certain. There is no reverse, no going back. We can't walk backward, can't reclaim past years, can't go back to living in the past, as much as we might like to sometimes when life gets difficult. Sometimes, the desire is strong to return to a time when life seemed less burdened, less weighed-down with societal and personal issues. But the reality is that they were there too in the past; we just tackled them differently because we were younger and the whole of life was still ahead of us. We were naïve in a good way; we didn't have the life experience that we do now. Perhaps we reacted more impulsively to certain situations on which we would use more careful consideration now. It's hard to know for sure. 

Although we can't walk backward into the past, we can walk more lightly when we forgive ourselves and others on the road with us. Forgiveness of others lightens our burdens; it unencumbers us. It clears the path ahead for new experiences, new adventures, kinder lives, and gentler spirits. We don't walk alone on our one-way street of life; we walk together with those we love and care about. 

Keeping the birds happy in winter

I recently purchased a bird feeding station from Amazon UK that arrived this past week. I love it already, since it was easy to assemble and came with different accessories, among them a suet ball cage, two pans (one for seeds and one for water), and a vertical hanging feeder. I am using both pans for seeds and/or bread cubes since there are freezing temperatures now and the water would just freeze in the pan. I had no problem assembling and installing it in my garden; it's placed under the krossved tree. The small birds have already discovered it and are making good use of it. I'm surprised I haven't thought of doing this before; we already feed the pigeons and magpies that show up outside our kitchen window in the morning--year-round. Sometimes the little birds show up as well, but they can't compete with the larger birds. Now they have their own feeding station that will hopefully keep them happy (and alive) during the cold winter months. Here is a photo of the bird feeder; I've already posted a link to it on Amazon UK for those who might want to buy the same feeder. 

 

A nice poem by Oliver Herford

I came across this poem today and thought I'd post it since my next post will be about birds and the bird feeder I bought for my garden. Enjoy.....

I Heard a Bird Sing

I heard a bird sing

In the dark of December.

A magical thing

And sweet to remember.

"We are nearer to Spring 

Than we were in September,” 

I heard a bird sing 

In the dark of December. 

From Welcome Christmas! A Garland of Poems (Viking Press, 1955) by Oliver Herford

A good poem by Martha Medeiros

This poem by Martha Medeiros--You Start Dying Slowly--resonated with me........

You start dying slowly

if you do not travel,

if you do not read,

If you do not listen to the sounds of life,

If you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly

When you kill your self-esteem;

When you do not let others help you.

You start dying slowly

If you become a slave of your habits,

Walking everyday on the same paths, 

If you do not change your routine,

If you do not wear different colours

Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

You start dying slowly

If you avoid to feel passion

And their turbulent emotions;

Those which make your eyes glisten

And your heart beat fast.

You start dying slowly

If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love,

If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,

If you do not go after a dream,

If you do not allow yourself,

At least once in your lifetime,

To run away from sensible advice.