Early Bird Gets the Worm..or....

I admit that I am an early riser.  Sometimes this earliness is a good thing and other times..well..lets just say a couple more hours of sleep would be welcome.  I just cannot sleep once that old sun starts to rise.  This morning was no different. I awoke and could not go back to sleep no matter how I tried.  So I got myself up out of bed and started my day.  I threw a load of washing in the machine and headed outside.  The Boysenberries needed picking and since they are on the north side of the house, I had to do that job early.  Since it was still quiet dark outside, I struggled to see which berries to pick but I managed. The Bay breeze does not cool that area so once the sun is up, it gets HOT!  The sun was still just barely up when I finished.  With a mug of coffee in hand I headed out the front door.

After filling all of the bird feeders, I sat down to enjoy the coffee, sunrise and bird show.  To anyone who says the "early bird gets the worm", I will tip my hat!  They are so right!  While sitting there with the sun rays starting to spread horizontally across the Bayou and through the yard, I counted at least fourteen different types of birds just in my general area!  I pondered how some folks may never see some of the critters that I see with my habit of early rising.  If I had lain in bed all morning, I would have missed the fine spectacle that was presented by the birds!  To me, there is nothing quite so beautiful as a morning spent in nature!

Several hours later, my niece, Eva, and sister-in-law, Reva came to visit.  Eva had a few cuttings of a Corkscrew Willow that she rooted for me and I was to share the berries with them.  I always have such nice visits with these two!  They are perhaps some of my favorite local visitors to the Little Bayou House!  While here, Reva wanted to watch the birds so we headed back outside to the yard benches.  There she, too, was treated to a constant parade of assorted birds.   Each time a different bird flew in to the feeders, Reva would ask the type.  Although she knew a lot of them, she wanted to learn each name and a bit about the bird.  My bird friends did not disappoint in their show!

I loved my time with my human visitors but I must admit that my quiet, pre-dawn time with the critters is mighty special, too.  Somehow it is at that time that I feel the critters of the Bayou fully accept me as one of them.  There is a sort of friendship or kinship that develops between human and animal.  A time that trust is there.  It is as if we realize that without one, there cannot be the other.  We need each other.  We are at peace with one another.....then...the rest of the world awakes...and we go our separate ways.