Day 74 – Through the Glass

February 21, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

Just one minute of cold wind exposure to my hands this morning at our community beach convinced me that I would not be doing a photo safari today.  It is impossible to hold the camera and release the shutter with mittens on and my exposed fingers, even for such a brief time, quickly began to hurt from the cold. I had gone to Gray’s Creek with my camera to check how frozen it was. Around 1983, the creek had frozen solid enough for ice-skating and a VW towing a picnic table on the ice. Today the cold was brutal so I decided any photographs would be from the inside looking out.

With the television turned off, I sat in my kitchen, looking out through a mostly clean window for a nearly an hour, and watched our backyard birds vying for position on one of the feeders. They perched on the porch railing or the edge of the house roof or the top of the feeder stand. I couldn't quite figure out the pecking order but the dark-eyed juncos seemed to wield the most power.

While snowflakes dotted the landscape, I watched as a dark-eyed junco and a white-throated sparrow perched on the railing, almost like neighbors talking in a backyard. The white-throated sparrows I saw were the tan-striped variety rather than the white-striped. Interesting notes: (1) the white-striped adults tend to mate with the tan-striped birds; white- and tan-striped males and white-striped females sing, but tan-striped females do not. I guess they are the introverts of the white-throated sparrows.

My gift today was bird-a-vision.

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> DAY 75 Tire Tracks

You can read my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Day 71 – Small Beauty

February 18, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

This is the time of the year when everyone begins to grow weary of weather, when “think spring” becomes a mantra. Among one of the first signs of spring is the crocus, often seen peeking through a snow-covered ground. It becomes a sign of hope that spring is surely arriving soon after a winter of shivering and shoveling sidewalks and driveways. I think the King George heather, botanical name Erica carnea King George, has the crocus beat in terms of uplifting one’s spirits. This evergreen blooms all winter long with its tiny pink and white flowers, reminding us not of the coming spring but of beauty that can exist in the midst of chilly gray days. Every day as I enter or leave the house, this plant lines the steps, a flowering reminder to look for small examples of beauty in a larger dreary day. 

I wonder how the plant got its name. I could not find an answer but I did learn that England’s King George IV visited Scotland in 1822 and received a warm welcome from the Scottish people.  Poet Sir Walter Scott put on an extravaganza for the king, who was kept busy during his visit and, at 60, showed great stamina. His visit to Scotland strengthened its fragile bond with England. Scotland takes great pride in its abundant heather. White heather is supposed to be especially lucky since legend has it that it will only grow on ground where no blood has been spilled. I don’t know if any of these dots can be connected but I learned some history while searching for an answer.

Like King George heather, there are hundreds of examples every day of small spots of beauty: a smile from a stranger, a hug from a friend, a like on Facebook, a well-worded phrase in a book, homemade matzo ball soup, the sun streaking through Venetian blinds, a phone call from someone just wanting to say hello, a kiss from my husband. 

My gift today is King George heather flowers poking through snow.

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> DAY 72 From Scratch

You can read my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Day 69 – Naked Beauty

February 16, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

Predictions for this area are for up to 10 inches of snow overnight. I sit in my car on the Safeway parking lot, which is filled with people carrying plastic bags filled with toilet paper and rushing to their cars as the temperature falls into the low 20’s. Chill, gloom and monochrome surrounds me but beauty abounds even on a bleak day such as this one. When my eye focuses on a single tree, I see a balanced curve of reaching branches morphing into a lacy silhouette. This tree does not need color or adornments; it is striking in its nakedness.

Humans too are beautiful without culture’s accoutrements. Without regarding clothing, makeup, jobs, possessions, colors or awards, there is a simple beauty in our reaching which becomes a lacy network against our own bright backdrop of expectations. Like the tree, our reaching is a paradox of simplicity and intricacy entwined. Robert Browning wrote, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.” My tree's beauty exceeds expectations.

This tree overlooks a grocery store parking lot, surrounded by chill, cars and snow flurries. Shoppers with hands full of recent purchases get into their cars to head home while I step out to admire a bare beauty, a metaphorical arbor arching over the end of my day.

My gift today is a bare winter tree.

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> DAY 70 One, Two, Four

You can read my other posts on this project here:

http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Winter 2010