Ms. Sally

   I often watch the critters around the Bayou and find that they, like people, have distinct personalities.  There are those who are stressed, those who are laid back, those who are fretful and those who are grouchy.  There are those who work hard to survive then there are those who think they are entitled enough to steal from others.  There are bullies, helpers, loners, instigators and achievers.  It boggles the mind.  Most folks "see" critters...I learn from them.

  One of my most recent visitors was a seagull that I have named "Sally".  She is a lovely creature with the sweetest face imaginable.  While most seagulls of all types are known to be a bit on the greedy side, so far, Sally seems to be fully appreciative of a single handout.  She does not aggravate you for more.  If offered, Sally will take a minnow or little mullet, sit on the pier post and swallow down the prize.  Then, unlike the others, she will quietly wait.  Most gulls will literally dive-bomb you for more handouts.  Not Sally.  She is more demure and ladylike.  I am sorry to tell the feistier gulls but her demeanor gets noticed and, consequently, she receives more gifts.  This just proves that you do not have to be boisterous nor greedy.

  Ms. Sally will likely spend a while around the pier since she is treated with kid-gloves.  This makes me happy.  Since I am still self-isolating (doctor's orders), I crave friendship in any form.  Sally and I seem to get along well so our friendship will hopefully be a long one.  Be kind, folks, be kind.

  

Just do it

   After Hurricane Zeta hit us with full force, we had more work than we could shake a stick at.  It was overwhelming especially since I was still recovering from the stroke and heart problems.  I was told to "take it easy", "do not overwork" and "let others help".  Well, that is all fine and dandy except, there was no time to take it easy and was virtually impossible not to overwork.  That part about "let others help"...well, no one did.  Son and I had to do it.  We struggled and are still neck deep in debris and repairs.  We will get there.  Today, however, was spent more in helping others.  Why?  Because that is what we do.  Bayou people help others. It is the neighborly thing to do.

  Several large trees were downed on my brother's place.  He is not in the physical condition to clean up the mess so, since Mark was home, he decided to cut the downed trees.  We would just clean up the place.  No problems.  Mark cut the huge tree and Son split the logs with the axe.  I tried to help load the smaller ones but, once again, am under orders not to do much.  While cutting, Mark had the idea that my other brother could use some of the firewood.  So...he cut, Son split and loaded wood for that brother.  After several hours, the place was cleared, the firewood was all cut, loaded, hauled and stacked and we were exhausted, yet again.  

 Folks, while we are an independent sort and will get our work done without the "let others help" crew that never shows, there are those who occasionally need a helping hand.  They do not ask.  They, too, try to fend for themselves.  This is where kindness and generosity come into play.  Just do it.  Do not wait to be asked.  Just do it.  Do not expect anything in return.  Just do it.

The Dancers

   There are times when I ponder things in life that make no sense.  I am not sure why these things even occur to me but they do so I ponder.  Today's ponderance...do plants have emotions?  Seriously.  Do ferns feel joy when the rains fall?  Do lilies fret when a frost is imminent?  Do trees feel love and friendship for those growing next to them?  While most folks would say a hasty "No.  That is impossible."  I wonder.  Why not?  And how would we know?  Granted, they do not have brains as we know brains but what if...what if there was some other way that scientists have not discovered?  Humans are not the only smart beings on this old earth.  (To be honest, I totally wonder if we are smart, at all.)

  Down by the marsh near the east side of the property, there are a couple of old dead pine trees that were struck by lightning several years ago.  While the trees were among the living, it was hard to tell where one's branches ended and the other's began.  They were all entwined and also had vines twisting about them making matters worse.  Since the lightning strikes, however, the trees have become devoid of needles and the vines died.  Now, a few sparse limbs remain.  The two trees look as if they were holding hands...uhh...branches.  In fact, it appears that they were quite chummy and were lovingly dancing while their world crashed about them!  Perhaps the one was trying to be supportive of the other even in their dying days.  Who knows?

  In all seriousness, folks.  Be kind.  Be supportive of those who may be near wit's end but not showing it.   Sometimes, those who appear to be the strongest are near the breaking point.  They carry on as if nothing is wrong simply because they have no one to support them or give them much needed attention. Reach out.  Life is hard enough as it is so just be kind.

  

The Handsome Prince!

  Yesterday, I found the fiery dragon in the garden.  As Queen of the Small Gardens, his presence elated me.  The protection of the garden plants rendered by a green anole is not to be scoffed at by mere humans!  The fiery dragon was welcomed and encouraged to live a long and happy life here.  The baby lizard is welcome to nestle down in the chrysanthemums any time he wishes!

  This morning's find was not a dragon but a handsome prince in disguise!  If you read faerie tales at all, you know that all frogs have that possibility of being an bewitched prince!  Yes, a quite lovely frog refused to move out of the pathway during my early morning stroll.  As I meandered the Small Gardens near the Puddle Pond, I nigh on stepped upon the poor critter!  This fine creature was also protecting the gardens as it was plucking caterpillars from the herbs!  What a handsome prince he was indeed!

  Since my queendom still is limited to the Small Gardens, I have found that more and more of my critter friends are moving nearer the gardens.  Frogs, snakes, lizards, turtles, toads, birds, squirrels, coons and fiddler crabs can be found scurrying about under the heavy leaves.  This is most likely due to the recent spate of rainstorms that have occurred over the past few weeks.  The nigh on daily rains have animals seeking dry spots.  Personally, however, since I am having to live in a make-believe world to overcome boredom, I prefer to think these fine friends are coming to visit me.  As Queen, I can do that.

The Gift Of Friendship

  It is not often that you will come across a friendship that lasts a lifetime and when you do, cherish it like no other.  Today, I was reminded of just how precious a true friend is by one of my oldest and dearest.  Son and I were working on a few "inside" chores as rain left us pretty much housebound.  The small room where "my" tools are stored needed a good cleaning.  This glorified closet space, not only contains a lot of my more rugged art supplies such as drills and saws but houses a good many of his tools that are used to create clue hunt props.  There are also about a billion and one nails and screws jammed in tubs, jars and boxes.  Those containers had our attention today and were scattered about the living room floor as we sorted.  

  Along about noontime, there was a gentle tapping at the door.  A surprise visitor to the Bayou was notifying us of her arrival.  As I opened the door, she and I both squealed in delight as if it had been a lifetime since we last saw each other.  It matters not that it has just been a few weeks as we were equally excited.  Ann was one of my very first friends outside of the family.  She and I started school together and graduated together but then went our separate ways.  A few years back, we reunited as if not a minute had passed between our time together despite the fact that it had been years and years.  Friendships that are meant to be have no time boundaries, obviously.  

  Ann came bearing a gift of the sweetest sort.  She had a very unique garden sign created for my funky gardens.  On it, she put my childhood name "Ruthie".  She is one of a mere handful of folks who even remember that was the name I used for the first six years of my life.   Now, my gardens have a name "Ruthie's Refuge".  How fitting is that??  I immediately acquired Son's help to hang the sign across the "creek bed" that I am creating as a drain for the roof runoff.  Once the area is completely cleaned and landscaped, this will likely become one of my favorite spots in the yard and really will be my refuge!   Thanks, Ann.  Not only for the incredible gift but also for the lifetime of true friendship.  I cherish each and every moment.

Was That A Hug?

  So....after a solid year of living together, these two are finally beginning to like each other.  Up until this point,  Mr. PJ (the old dog) and Ms. Nycto (the Bayou Princess Cat) have merely tolerated each other if they had to be within thirty feet of one another.  They would have just as soon been on other planets, if at all possible.  Mr. PJ was more accepting than Ms. Nycto.  She was having no part of the old dog and she was willing to let him know exactly how she felt.  With any passing, it was her duty to hiss, howl and smack the poor unsuspecting dog.  He had never dealt with such a petulant critter before coming to the Bayou.  Her fickleness confused the old dog so much that he gave up trying to be friends even though he greatly misses his life-long buddy, Kiki.  (For those who do not know, Mr. PJ was not allowed to go to the island with my son and daughter-in-law but their cat was. So, he lost not only his family but his best friend all in one day.  It is heartbreaking!)

  This lack of friendship between Mr. PJ and Ms. Nycto has gone on for the entire year that he has been with us. Now things have changed and it has caught me off guard.  The sudden friendliness started about two weeks ago with Nycto not taking undue swipes at the old dog.  Then this week, I noticed that she was actually being nice to him.  It is almost scary!!  Knowing that the cat can sometimes be devious, I am pondering what she is plotting!  

  This morning really surprised me as both animals seemed to genuinely like each other!  Yes...LIKE.  Can you imagine?  Ms. Nycto was lounging on the yard bench while Mr. PJ was waiting for me to open the door.  I turned just in time to see the pair nuzzle each other.  Oh, my!!  That was like a hug! Oh, happy day!  Maybe now PJ won't be on the receiving end of boops on the nose by a foul-tempered cat.  Maybe he can have a new best friend.  Lets hope this is the start of a beautiful friendship!

The Story of A Friendship

  As usual, Mark and I headed to the pier late this evening.  And, as usual, we met up with an old friend.  Just as we stepped up on the pier, Mark called my attention to something almost hidden in a clump of marsh grass.  Ahh, a nutria was devouring the root system of a clump of marsh that had grown almost under the pier.  While Mark stayed with the dog, PJ, I eased my way closer to the animal.  I was not sure how it would react to my presence alone much less to both of us and a large dog.  I started snapping photographs at about fifteen feet from the critter.  The nutria looked at me then returned to her supper.  I eased closer yet.  Once again, the nutria looked at me and started its munching once again.  Hmmm...the animal did not seem one bit frightened.  I eased closer.  This time, the critter eyed me cautiously but kept eating.  The animal was intent on getting its fill this evening.  By this time, I was standing almost directly above the critter.  The pier was about four feet higher than the mudflats where the nutria was dining.  Still, no move was made to escape the monster behind the camera.

  Once Mark and PJ started ambling down the pier, the nutria decided that enough was enough and she moved across the small puddle of water.  She now was about fifteen feet away again.  There, she watched us intently but made no move to scurry into the marsh.  We decided to let her continue her meal of marsh roots.  

  Nutrias do a lot of damage to the marshes along the Gulf Coast.  They have a liking for marsh roots and, once the roots are destroyed, the marsh dies and erosion occurs.  That is generally bad news.  Nutrias reproduce rapidly and when you get hundreds of the rodents in any given area, the damage can be great.  Thankfully, the alligators and eagles keep things in check here on the Bayou.  The nutria, today, was actually doing us a favor.  The marsh she was eating had sprouted up right in the mooring spot of our small skiff.  In fact, the entire canal where the boat is launched into the Bay has overgrown.  As it sits, there would be no getting the boat out from its mooring spot.  The little nutria can munch to her heart's content where she was tonight.  Hopefully, there, she will be safe from predators and will live happily under the pier. 

  As I photographed the nutria this evening, I could not help but to think of another some years back.  When Hurricane Katrina hit the Bayou, she stacked debris up against the Little Bayou House some places ten feet deep.  While we were trying to dig our way out, I could hear a weak cry of some small animal buried deep under the debris.  While searching for the stranded animal, I came across a resin cherub lawn ornament and pulled it from the debris.  Under it, I saw a pair of sad eyes.  Under all of that mess, an infant nutria stared up at me as if asking for help.  I reached down and gingerly picked up the critter.  My heart melted a bit.  I did not need to care for a critter at that time as we could barely take care of ourselves.  "Well, Little One, I will release you back into the Bayou and wish you well but that is about all I can do at the moment." I told it.  Down at the marsh edge, I set the little one in the water and was fully surprised to hear it squeak again.  Then, from the marsh an adult came swimming toward us.  Mama and Baby were reunited after the most destructive storm to ever hit here.  I felt good.  Tears welled up inside me as I stood amidst the total devastation that we were fighting.  I needed to see something positive and it took a pair of rodents to bring that to me.  Maybe that is why I have a soft spot for these critters even though most folks hate them.  

The Fire Breathing Dragon of the Cupboard!

  There is a dragon in my cupboard!  Yes, indeed, and it is a lovely dragon as far as dragons go.  While the thing resides in my cabinet, it is not mine.  I cannot lay claim to the critter nor can I discourage it from dwelling there. It just has to stay for the duration of about three more months.  Then the thing can go home.  It can journey back to its original domain and I will be free from its rule.  Not that I mind.  The dragon has been relatively well behaved and its stay has not been overly stressful for either of us.  To be truthful, I hardly realize it is there except when I wander through the dining room.  BUT!  I would not trade it for the world!  Even though, as I have said, the dragon is not mine to claim, it is meaningful to me.

  The dragon in question is none other than a small figurine.  Back a few months ago, a lifelong buddy of Son's came to visit.  He smugly presented me with the dragon.  "Here!  This is to help you stay in the spirit of the clue hunt!" he said as the dragon was passed to my hands. You see, the theme of this year's Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou is "Save the Alchemist" which is set in Medieval Times.  Since no decent Alchemist is without a dragon somewhere in the whole realm of things, I obviously needed one to keep me in check.  Now, whenever I start getting a bit bogged down and "clueless", I have a reminder that keeps me striving to complete the task.  The dragon is to return to its original home after the final day of the hunt.

  This evening, I took a photograph of the dragon and was at first distressed about the reflection of the flash on the glass of the cupboard.  Then after staring at the thing a bit, I thought that it was rather appropriate after all. If you really squint your eyes and use a great deal of imagination, perhaps the dragon is "breathing fire"!  Sounds good to me!  Its funny how things work.

Tick, Tock.....Boing, Boing, Boing.....

  There is a new noise ringing through the house at all hours...each hour, anyway.  A sweet lady gave Mark a nice old "35 day" clock that has a wonderful gong chime.  While some folks may grow tired of having a loud gong echoing through the house at midnight, I find it somewhat calming.  Yep, I am weird like that, I guess, but it is soothing to know that time marches on even when I am down for the night.  Some things never change.  The clock is punctual even when I grow weary.

  While the clock, itself, is a treasure, the true value lies in the friendship of such a kind person.  When you give something from the heart, even a small trinket becomes priceless.  We are blessed to have such friends in our lives and always hope that they feel the same.  Now I must get busy and clean the mantle so the clock will have a prominent place to be displayed. The clock will remain as a cherished part of the Little Bayou House....the dozen midnight gongs and all!  

Life....and a Bowl of Cherries

  The saying "Life is like a bowl of cherries" is sort of misleading.  Life is not like a bowl of cherries in the least.  Cherries are good...always. Unless they are rotten...then they are bad...always.  But Life is not that clear cut.  We are setting ourselves up for a major disappointment if we have it in our heads that everything is always hunky-dory.   (Hunky-dory being a phrase that Mom used to say when things were nigh on perfect or use in jest when things were just the opposite.  As a kid, I could never differentiate between the two uses of the same term.)  In real life, there are days when those cherries are good and bad at the same time and it is up to us to choose which fruit to eat.  Pick out the fresh fruit and all is fine...pick the rotten and we wallow in despair.  

  Today, things were more than just a bowl of cherries even though they were involved.  Late afternoon found me exhausted and things going a bit down the wrong path.  It was just one of those days where it seemed that Murphy's Law was the rule for the day.  I could not find things, four of my jars of jelly did not seal and chairs would not fit through the doorway...just to mention a few of the frustrating things occurring during the day.  About three in the afternoon, I just quit.  I was tired after a sleepless night and did not need this aggravation.  I plopped down in my rocking chair to sit and contemplate just why I was having such a day when I heard a familiar call.  Ahh, my sweet sister-in-law was in the yard.  I yelled through the open windows for her to come on inside.  (Just a Southern thing there...."Come on in and sit a spell!  The door is open!)  Down in the Deep South, yoo-hooing is a common greeting and "sittin' a spell" is done with either a cup of coffee or glass of sweet tea depending on the weather.  

  Cynthia made her way inside and handed me a grocery bag.  Inside were the most beautiful cherries!  "These are for you!  You always share everything with anybody that visits, so I brought you something this time."  Aww, my heart forgot all of the fine things that Old Murphy was conjuring all day.  Those cherries brought a smile to my lips and a bit of joy in my heart and even though it was a stifling 90 degrees outside, we had coffee.

  Sometimes life does hand us days that are not to our liking.  It is times like that when we have to make the best of things and not sweat the small stuff.  We pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and carry on.  Then things can change in a heartbeat such as when someone kind offers a bit of pleasant company.  Throw in a bag of fresh cherries and nothing that Old Murphy can throw at you is worth the worry.  Eat the fresh, delicious fruit and do not wallow in rotten thoughts.  Life is good.

Ms. Evelyn

  Isn't it funny how something as simple as a ribbon can trigger a memory and then a flood of feelings follow?  Hanging on our Christmas Tree are several handmade ornaments that were given to me years ago. These are nothing more than a few pieces of ribbon tied together with a button glued in the middle.  They are supposed to resemble poinsettias.  As an handcrafted item, they are nothing special..as a memory, they are everything. 

  Back when my kids were small, I did a lot of volunteering at their school.  Mostly, I did arts and crafts with the kids but I, also, decorated their classrooms for different events or parties.  It was fun and kept me in close contact with their teachers.  Not many parents wanted the extra work that was involved in being "Class Mom" but I loved it.  With my youngest son's classroom, I had a helper.  She was the grandmother of a little girl in the same grade.  Ms. Evelyn and I got along famously and could work together without ever a hitch.  She was highly creative and never shied away from any projects.  In fact, she instigated a good many of the fun times that we provided for the children.  

  Each year, Ms. Evelyn and I would exchange a small gift at Christmastime.  Always, these gifts were homemade!  What else could be expected?  I cherished each just as I know that she did.  Good friends are just that way. 

  Well, as they have a habit of doing, the kids grew into adults and Ms. Evelyn and I did not have classrooms to decorate.  We still kept in touch with each other until that fateful day when Hurricane Katrina hit.  With no method of communications at hand, we had no way of contacting each other.  Her house took a direct hit.  She and her husband headed to Texas to live with their son for a while.  I had no idea at the time and with all the confusion that major storms leave in their wake, I never even thought of the outside world.  

  It was not until years afterwards that I discovered that my dear friend had passed from this world.  I felt a whole rush of emotions.  It was hard. Just weeks later as I was decorating the Little Bayou House for Christmas, I came across the ribbon ornaments.  Wow!  These things were always special but  now they took on a whole new meaning.  They were our friendship all tied up in ribbon.  I still cherish the poinsettias and hang them on the tree.  I still cherish the memory of Ms. Evelyn. Some friendships last forever.