I turn the corner and no birds.
Silence.
I’ve moved some metal shelves into the spot where their cage sat.
No whistles.
No singing.
How long to get used to that?
Then I hear the pitter-pat of big puppy paws coming around the bend.
And it comforts me:)
Well, yesterday I took Alfie, my surviving cockatiel, to my sister’s house in Aberdeen. My brother in law has a family relation who wants a bird and is very excited about getting a bird–she’s just retired and will dote on him:) I am pleased:)
Alfie was my niece’s bird until she left home last summer and couldn’t take him with her. I thought Skyebird would enjoy a companion. They seemed to exist peacefully together. I think Alfie liked Skyebird better than Skyebird liked him.
After Skyebird passed away a few weeks ago, Alfie seemed to be okay, although he never sat on Skyebird’s side of the cage, and every now and then, he’d screech like Skyebird. Once in a while he’d sound like he was fighting with himself–weird.
He loved singing to his mirror:)
I had placed a songbird clock above the cage long before Alfie arrived. Skyebird ignored it. Alfie emulated it–he could do every song!! Skyebird was a grump (to everyone but me), but Alfie would sing to anyone; he’d even wake up singing:)
Such a cheerful fella!
So the singing we will miss. He was a happy camper during his brief stay with us:) And now our house is so quiet!
Happy trails to Alfie.
I’m working yesterday and got a call from Skye. She was really upset. She came home from class and found our “precious speckled puppy”, Wyatt, had chewed up my Ipod & headphones and two sheets of stamps; guess he’s not a music fan or a snail-mail fan:(!!
But my Ipod:(!!!
Good grief and googa-mooga!
A day in the life of a puppy left to entertain himself for a few hours!!
Go ahead and laugh. It’ll be a funny story to me…….later!
Today our church’s Comfort & Care ministry hosted a workshop “How to Love and Minister to Those With Mental Health Issues “.
We heard that people in Wake County with mental health issues are facing a world with few places to turn when the two Wake Mental Health Centers, one of which is Dix Hospital, close in the near future.
And insurance companies do not cover mental health crisis, or if they do, it’s only a token amount.
NAMI, a national organization for the support of mental illness, is trying to change things.
What is the role of the Church in this crisis? How are Christians called to comfort and care for these people who sometimes don’t realize they have a problem, who may not be easy to love? How can the families be supported and ministered to? Somehow Churches need to be safe and welcoming places for people who struggle with mental issues. Will Churches take the initiative to offer ‘caring centers for the mentally ill’ in the future? Things to wrestle with…..and ponder and pray about.
Mental illness has a negative connotation even here in 2007. Fear of the unknown is the primary reason. We need to listen and learn from one another–and be willing to step out in faith and love in order to break down the walls.
A sure sign that our community is growing in leaps and bounds: No kid’s boxed Valentine’s were to be found as of last night in the Apex area. Procrastinating parents and students were left to cut, draw, stamp, and sticker their own cards!
If you know me well, you know recycling is important to me. I’m not a fanatic but could be if I had time or energy, or another lifetime to campaign, apply for grants, etc.
When Keith & I were newly-marrieds back in 1969-73 we lived in beautiful upstate NY where Ulster County towns were beginning to recycle on-site at the landfills. The small towns recruited volunteers to come and sort glass and aluminum into separate bins. These removable bins were placed in permanent concrete pits in the ground. Our church youth group, with the 2 of us as their fearless leaders, would spend a Saturday a month at the local dump, literally going through garbage uncovering green, blue, and clear glass, as well as aluminum cans! I must say it was an dirty experience but we felt like we were making a difference in our small part of the world.
We moved back to NC in ’74, to Raleigh briefly(no recycling), then bought a house in Cary. Cary recycled–yeh! Not enough, but it was a beginning. The town did improve their program as time passed and now has an active recycling program:) In ’87 we moved to Apex, where they have followed in Cary’s footsteps:)
In 2005 I began working at a small office in Raleigh, and after naively calling the City Dept. of Works to get a recycling bin, found out that businesses did not recycle:( I was shocked! Businesses are the biggest producers of trash:( So I took our recyclable items home to Apex.
I started a new job in Apex at Hallmark in 2006, a job I enjoy. You can imagine how much Hallmark ships in, countless items in countless boxes packaged in plastic and the dreaded styrofoam—ugh:( In our company’s defense, I am thankful they do recycle cardboard! Hurray:) But not the styrofoam:( Styrofoam flakes, shreds, clings, sticks to everything, fills up our trashbags and the landfills and will never disintegrate:( How bad is that! We need to ban the creation of it or send it all to the sun!! I read in the N&0 recently a researcher has come up with a styrofoam that does begin to break down in 6 months—now that excites me!
Now, for the plastic bags….
And the litter along the roads….
And abandoned shopping carts in Raleigh, and so on and so on.
We are the stewards of this Earth.
Did I say not long ago, and more than once, I was hoping for some cold weather, that it would be a good thing? I forgot to mention I’d vote for no wind (no chill factor) with that Northern Canadian air! Very important.
My Skybird died during the night.
He seemed fine yesterday.
Many will be happy, including my husband and children. In their defense they haven’t shouted with joy in front of me so far.
He was a big presence in our house, a handsome cockatiel with a beautiful yellow head and orange cheeks, and a sleek gray body with white-tipped wings. My friend Vicki gave him to me 3 years ago. It took him almost a year to trust me, and eventually he even let me stroke his head and would perch on my shower door where, two or three times, he allowed me to put him in the shower water. He didn’t like it at all:(
But his primary job (and annoyance): he screeched, welcoming me home, beginning when he heard my car until he saw me! At the same time, he would screech at the rest of my family when they came within sight (I believe) because they were taking my attention away from him. He never made friends with Keith or Skye; he was just feisty!
He was totally devoted to me and only me.
I brought home my niece’s cockatiel, Alfie, last summer and I think they were company for one another. Alfie’s an upbeat bird, likes to sing, and can imitate almost any songbird on the bird clock nearby. Skybird would only sing if you worked at coaxing him. Skyegirl was good at getting him to sing now and then:)
On this windy, chilly February afternoon Keith and I buried him in the back yard, within sight out the kitchen bay window. A gray rock marks his grave.
Vicki and I think he was about 8 years old; she had hand-raised him from a baby.
Skybird will be long remembered, a testimony to how loyal and devoted a pretty bird can be.
May he rest in peace.
February 2007 is already here! Amazing!
For snow lovers and winter lovers, it’s the hope of beautiful white snow and weather cold enough to kill bugs. Disheartening to me to hear that the groundhog predicts only 6 more weeks of winter–ugh. Summer will all too soon be upon us, with unrelenting heat:(
We did have a brief moment of snow as February arrived Thursday:) It didn’t stay, but what a pretty snowfall it was, very peaceful, and what a nice vacation day it was for many:(
These are the books stacked on my nightstand, beside my bed, that I am reading, am in the process of reading gradually, or are to be read:
1. A Breach of Promise, by Anne Perry; am reading now, a mystery!
2. Heaven, by Randy Alcorn; read a little every now and then, a lot to process, but an amazing, powerful book!
3. The Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren; have not finished.
4. God and George W. Bush, by Paul Kengor; only read a third–too dry, but hope to perservere.
5. Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul, by Jack Canfield, Mark Hansen, LeAnn Thieman; read now and again.
6. Ministries of Mercy, by Timothy Keller; read 3/4ths, excellent, but slow going as he gets into practical set-ups at the end.
7. The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis; had book for years and want to read–just waiting in line!
8. When I Don’t Desire God, by John Piper; to be read.
9. Jungle Pilot, by Russell T.Hitt; to be read.
10. Through Painted Deserts, by Donald Miller; to be read.
Books I received as gifts at Christmas, waiting to be read!
11. The Handmaid and the Carpenter, by Elizabeth Berg.
12. Happiness Sold Separately, by Lolly Winston.
13. Miracles, by C.S. Lewis.
14. The Four Love, by C.S. Lewis.
15. The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis.
16. The Years of Pleasure, by Elizabeth Berg.
17. Digging To America, by Anne Tyler.
One that Keith’s sister gave him for Christmas, which he’s passing on to me:
18. We Die Alone, by David Howarth.
A good literary start to 2007! My job: to finish the unfinished, and read those that are beside me, beckoning to me!