Leaving Footsteps

   Early this afternoon, I headed to the pier to see if I could be of some use to Son who was working on the pier.  The repairs to the massive hurricane damage are time consuming and labor intensive.  At best, I could perhaps be a gofer and fetch needed tools or planks for him.  Since my help was not needed at the moment, I took advantage of the low, low tide to do a bit of "mud-searching".  I love to see what lies beneath the murky waters of the Bay!  Come wintertime with its north winds, the tide goes far out and unveils any number of oddities.  This afternoon, I found footsteps!

The resident Great Blue Heron had recently searched this area for tiny fish.  It left behind a clear set of tracks.  It was those tracks that got me pondering things today.  We, like that bird, leave behind tracks or footprints wherever we go.  These footprints are not just left in the mud or sand but in everybody's life in our day to day business.  Our attitudes can leave some pretty heavy marks.  It is highly important that we review our paths and see what type of footprints we leave behind.  Will we be remembered as someone who stepped lightly and with care or will our footprints leave behind hurt?  Being kind, generous and loving will allow others to remember our footprints with fond thoughts.

  Folks, be kind.  It never hurt anyone to truly care about others.  In these trying times, our footprints can say a lot about us.  Take care to not trod heavily upon the hearts of anyone.  Be happy.

Bird Writings

  While on the pier, I began trying to read the bird writings.  Yep, that is just how things have been lately.  I am bored to the point that I find bird footprints to be some strange hieroglyphics that need to be deciphered.  Quite surely, those birds are trying to send me some sort of message with their traipsing about in the near perfect patterns.  If only I could read the bird writings, I might come to understand their feelings much better.  Perhaps the birds are trying to reach out and communicate with me!  Yeah...that is a long stretch, isn't it.

  Most of the footprints on the mudflats, today, were those of the killdeer.  They have been quite busy searching for food as of late.  Their scurrying steps leave a zigzagging pattern in the mud until the next high tide.  The egrets and herons have much larger feet so their prints sink further into the mud and become water-filled rapidly.  There is not much to be read by their steps.

  All of this makes me wonder if we, as humans, are truly the only ones on this planet that have a method of recording our thoughts.  Back in the day, Pop always used to reprimand my handwriting attempts by saying that I needed to "neaten the chicken-scratch".  This would make me try harder since I definitely did not want to be compared to a chicken scratching about the ground.  Most of their footprints were sullied with poop and I figured that was about as nasty as it got.  Pop's words rang in my head as I tried to make each letter perfect and keep the same graceful slant to my words that I had seen with his and Mom's handwriting.  Penmanship was a huge thing back in their day and they were trying to pass along the skill to their kids.  While I never mastered the beauty that their writing with had, at least mine was legible.  That is about it...legible.

  The birds' writings may or may not have some unseen meanings but at least they are interesting.  To a person with cabin fever, anything out of the ordinary is a welcome change.  

Teeny, Tiny Tracks!

  Mark and I like to take our coffee mugs to the pier with us on our early morning treks.  It is relaxing to sit in the coolness of the predawn.  We watch the world around us as it wakes to a new day.  Sometimes, we sit there silently sharing the peace.  It is just one of those things that makes living on the Bayou perfect.

  A couple of mornings ago, as we were just about to step up on the pier, I noticed some small animal tracks.  They appeared to be that of a dog but this would have definitely had to be a tiny dog!  Compared to Ms. Ez's big paw print, this mark was minuscule!  I tossed my extra camera battery down beside the track to get an idea of how small the thing was. The battery dwarfed the footprint. The entire track was smaller than a quarter.  It had the nails and pad prints that looked a lot like Ms. Ez's footprint, yet, if this was the track of a dog, it was tiny!  Hmmm?  Ponder, ponder?  I wonder what type critter made this track?  

  For several days now, I have seen more tracks but never the animal. Since I usually find the tracks in the uninterrupted sand after an overnight rain, I am assuming that the critter is nocturnal.  Could this be a coyote pup's track?  If so, the critter is still a wee, little thing and should not be out roaming by itself!  I never find an adult track nearby.  Is it a fox's track?  I am so at a loss!

  If anyone has any ideas or can identify the tiny footprint, I would love to hear from you!  Until then, I suppose I will watch the tracks to see if they get larger.  Perhaps then, I might make the assumption that this is a whelp that has been orphaned which might account for the lack of adult tracks.  Poor little pup!  Or, poor, teeny, tiny dog! Or, poor, little critter of some sort!

Happy Spring!

  It has been a blustery day here on the Bayou.  It was one of those days where it is better to just sit indoors than brave the weather.  I did venture out a few times and even made it to the pier with my cousins, Ann and Fred.  (They were here all the way from Virginia!)  But for the most part, I sat inside being bored.  Even though there is a lot I could be doing, if it does not involve seeds or dirt during this time of year, I am not interested! I moped about all afternoon just watching the wind whip itself up in a frenzy on the Bay. About five o'clock in the afternoon, Son headed down the lane to get the mail. When he came back, he handed me the usual bunch of ads and stood there smiling.  "What?" I asked.  It was then that he handed me the envelope.  He knew this piece of mail would brighten my day regardless of the weather!  The long envelope held the return address of my oldest son and daughter-in-law!  Yep!  That was all it took to bring a smile to my face!  I could hardly wait to tear it open!

  Inside that envelope was springtime!  Finger-painted on a large sheet of paper were the words "Happy Spring" and below that were three of the cutest carrots that I have ever seen!  Those carrots were made from the footprints of my sweet baby granddaughter!  Ok, so that just made my day...rather my springtime...or perhaps even my year so much happier!  I can only imagine the giggles and squeals involved while Mary Ruth had lots of orange and green paint on her little tootsies!

   It is funny how a simple sheet of paper and a bit of paint can hold all the joy of the world.  My dreary day was transformed into one of sunshiny brightness simply because my sweet daughter-in-law and son sharing a moment of their precious daughter.  Ahh, yes!  It was a beautiful, beautiful, blustery spring day on the Bayou!