Anna's Hummingbird
Happy New Year!
So we did our traditional New Year's Eve thing, which consists of staying at home together, feasting on finger-food (unfortunately, the theme ends up being 'the more fat, the better!), drinking champagne (I only had one glass, okay?) and watching movies. Last night, we watched Scoop and the very first episode of Saturday Night Live (which I watched from a friend's house in Yonkers, NY when it was first broadcast!). We hung around until midnight, playing computer games, watched the ball come down (three hours delayed, of course) in Times Square, smooched, did some more computer gaming, and crashed around 2:00.
Sometime around 3:00 am, driven out of the bedroom by some powerful snoring, I fumbled my way into the guest bedroom, grappled a quilt out of the blanket chest, and ended up asleep on our very comfortable couch until 8:00 am or so.
When I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, I hauled myself up out of bed, brushed my teeth, emptied two litter boxes, took the hummingbird nectar out of the refrigerator to warm it up, and did a full forty minutes on my trusty Theracycle (a truly remarkable exercycle, made especially for disabled folks). I brought the little glass feeder bottled into the house so I could wash them and refill them, and went out to hang them on the feeder.
(I bet you're wondering where the hell the magic is, right?)
As I was struggling to hang the second glass globe, I realized that a hummingbird had flown over and was drinking out of the one globe I'd managed to hang on the feeder - not more than a foot away from me! It was an Anna's hummingbird, a male, with a gorgeous, iridescent, ruby-colored head, and it hovered there, right next to me, sipping away for about 45 seconds. It stopped drinking, hovered for a moment or two just looking at me, and then darted away into the huge bush in the next yard. I stood there for a couple of minutes, not quite believing what had happened, and then I decided that one of my 'gentle goals' for 2007 simply had to have something to do with seeking out the magic in my life everywhere I can find it.
So here are my Gentle Goals (I hate the whole idea of 'resolutions') for 2007:
- Be mindful of what I eat
- Exercise every day
- Be compassionate - towards myself and everyone else
- Seek out and notice the magic around me
4 comments:
Sounds like a fairly good start to 2007 for you. Hope you get a bit of magic every day.
Hi there!
I absolutely have to share a poem shared by Left-handed trees at
Miracle Fair
Miracle Fair
by Wislawa Szymborska
The commonplace miracle:
that so many common miracles take place.
The usual miracle:
invisible dogs barking
in the dead of night.
One of many miracles:
a small and airy cloud
is able to upstage the massive moon.
Several miracles in one:
an alder is reflected in the water
and is reversed from left to right
and grows from crown to root
and never hits bottom
though the water isn't deep.
A run-of-the-mill miracle:
winds mild to moderate
turning gusty in storms.
A miracle in the first place:
cows will be cows.
Next but not least:
just this cherry orchard
from just this cherry pit.
A miracle minus top hat and tails:
fluttering white doves.
A miracle (what else can you call it):
the sun rose today at three fourteen a.m.
and will set tonight at one past eight.
A miracle that's lost on us:
the hand actually has fewer than six fingers
but still it's got more than four.
A miracle, just take a look around:
the inescapable earth.
An extra miracle, extra and ordinary:
the unthinkable
can be thought.
--from The People on the Bridge, 1986--
Isn't it amazing...
It is, indeed. Thanks for sharing that, Deb. And for the good wishes - I hope we all get to experience a little magic every day this new year!
Ok, where did the photo of someone holding a hummer come from?? Nice story Lib, reminds us that so much wonder is all around us, if only we'd notice!
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