For The Birds

Changing it up — My Sunday Best #48

I almost took down my Christmas decorations yesterday. I could have left them indefinitely—white spray-painted branches and solar lights go with every season. But, since the temperatures climbed into the 60s this week, it was the perfect weather to change things up a bit. I call it dinking around. It’s one of my favorite things to do—moving things from here to there and there to here. Since the birds enjoyed the bare-branch decorations so much, instead of breaking the branches up into fuel for the chiminea, I moved them to a little area on the back side of the deck—a level place where the inflatable hot tub used to be.

We purchased the hot tub, an adult-sized version of a kiddie pool/bouncy house combo, back in November. We thought it had sprung a leak, so we drained it and moved it up on the deck to investigate. It turned out that a few new o-rings on one of the hoses fixed the problem. A leak in my new piece of paradise was a big deal for me. I did my best to stay calm, but in all honesty, I felt deflated, like the hot tub.

For as long as I can remember, I have been on a quest for a luxurious soak. For me, soaking in hot water is heaven on earth. It’s been ten or more years since I’ve lived in a house with a bathtub. Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you when I come for a visit, the first question out of my mouth is something like, “Is it all right if I take a bath?”

Growing up in Colorado, I always had access to natural hot springs. We used to climb along the rocky riverbank of the upper Colorado River that ran through the small town of Hot Sulphur Springs to a small pool surrounded by rocks where 100-degree water seeped from the earth. In the winter, further up the river, we would ice skate around the bends, grabbing willow branches and dodging rocks while the sulfur steam rose from the banks.

When my boys were little, we would hike a mile or so to a primitive hot spring near Bond, Colorado. One time, the kids ran ahead of me and startled a King snake crossing the trail—still the largest snake I have ever seen in Colorado. The spring had an ecosystem of its own, a Rocky Mountain Garden of Eden.

Hot springs are always on my radar when I travel. I’ve been known to take a lengthy detour for a few minutes of bliss in bubbling hot water, including Thermopolis, Wyoming, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, and many others. I’m like a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing them out. Although I prefer a hot natural spring, one particular spring in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, is stunning, irresistible, and COLD. The Blue Hole stays at a constant 62 degrees and is at least 80 feet deep. One warm summer morning, I decided I had to jump into the crystal clear blue water before we left town. The experience was exhilarating, astonishing, and shocking, all at once—taking my breath away and jump-starting every nerve throughout my body. Several hours later, I was still buzzing from head to toe, and all I could say was, “Wow!”

The life we seek is inside the life we live—Marc Hiles from The Anthology of the Soul

There are so many wonders in this world—within the life I live. As I write, chickadees, wrens, cardinals, and nuthatches are hopping from branch to branch in their little piece of paradise, stocked with seeds and yummy treats. I think they might enjoy a water spa as much as I do.

Dinking around, watching the birds, stargazing, and soaking in hot water—these are a few of my favorite things—constantly giving me a reason to look around, change it up, and be astonished.

Little Bird 
by Trisha Leone

She’s holding a tiny bird in her hands
So careful not to squeeze too tight
Her big dark eyes are full of wonder
A beating heart so full of life

She opens her hands and it flies away
But it doesn’t fly too far
To another branch it leads her along
Now every bird she sees, she thinks it’s the one

She’s standing on her toes
And reaching for the sky
And you know, that’s how she learned to fly
Catch her if you can
She’ll slip right through your hands
She’s a little bird in a great big world
And she flies, she flies, she flies, she flies

She’s got her pants tucked in her boots
Her cowboy hat is pulled down tight
Pay attention girl, keep your feet on the ground
But she just keeps going, never turning around

She’s standing on her toes
And reaching for the sky
And you know, that’s how she learned to fly
Catch her if you can
She’ll slip right through your hands
She’s a little bird in a great big world
And she flies, she flies, she flies, she flies

She’s a summer rain that comes out of nowhere
Always catches me off guard
She makes me laugh at the funny side of life 
Leaves me wishing on a star

You can listen to the song here Little Bird