Beloved,
Happy, Happy Thanksgiving
I give thanks for all the gifts this world and humanity offers me. There are so many that it would take my entire newsletter to mention them all by name. I give thanks for you, my reader and for the opportunity to share with you once a week, the things that touch my heart. You are quite a diverse group. All ages, sexes, religions, beliefs or non-beliefs having profound different arenas in your life. I like to think of my newsletter group as being members of humanity in unity but not in identification. You are each special and unique and bring your own gifts to the mix. Thank you for being YOU and for allowing me to share who I am with you.
Hey, check out the new banner for my newsletter. This was created by Barry Costa, a very dear friend who is quite the creator himself. He does websites and creates unique and inspiring art work that you can download right off the computer. If this interests you, go to www.fruitfulperspectives.com and check him out. What a surprise this was and so apropos for me. You see he is another gift that I am thankful for.
I am being given a special gift from Mother Nature as the birds and ducks are doing a dance ensemble right in the water and on my tree. First I saw the pileated woodpecker, the larger one with the red head and then the smaller downy woodpecker come for food. I usually never see them together and they did their dance as they climbed all the branches but were clever at avoiding each other. It was definitely musical and eye catching. Even a male cardinal came and perched on a branch for a while before flying away. Usually I see him only on the ground under the feeders. Of course, my regulars, the golden finch, sparrow, black capped chickadee, tufted titmouse and white breasted nuthatch were visiting for their thanksgiving breakfast.
I am being given a water show right here in front of my deck on the lake. I, of course, am inside as it is quite chilly right now. This does not happen all the time and usually only a few times a year and I feel very fortunate if I happen to be home to view this majesty. When I first opened my blinds, there were only 4 Hooded Mergansers right in front and what I thought was strange was that there were 3 males and one female and I don’t believe this is mating season. Then about 15 Canadian Geese showed up who are about 5 times bigger than the mergansers but the little ducks are not fearful and they mingle with them as they keep diving for food while the geese are just swimming.
I did my meditation and then had breakfast when all of sudden there was a flurry of excitement out my window. I had only seen the hooded mergansers once a week ago and I haven’t seen them since so this was a surprise. I had assumed that they had left on their migration. There must have been 24 hooded mergansers, plopping in and out of the water. What a sight that is, there appears to be no ducks out there and all of sudden they pop us and there are about 24 of them. It still thrills me to watch all of them go plop, plop, plop down into the water and then they pop up further down the lake. This morning they had an intruder, Oscar, the seagull who was among them. Sometimes, they surrounded him but they did not do it deliberately as their only interest was to dive down and get the little fish that were swimming in pods. Of course, Oscar wanted some too, so he would spread his wings to fly to get his food from one of the mergansers but even though he is at least twice as big as the hooded merganser, he never catches the food as they just simply dive down into the water and come up somewhere else.
This morning there was a switch though, Oscar is usually all alone but there was a smaller seagull a ways away just sitting calmly on the water and did not even have her head extended like Oscar did. I am assuming it is a female as it was smaller and much calmer. She was nearer another batch of mergansers but did not even move to be closer to them. Perhaps Oscar was trying to impress her by getting her some food. From what I could see, he did not succeed.
Suddenly more Canadian geese showed up and now there were about 45 of them. Some were preening on the edge of the beach and some were out in the water appearing to be bathing as they would lift one wing and then tilt into the water submerging more of their bodies in the water. They did not appear to notice the smaller mergansers that were diving in the water around them. How wonderful it is to see all these species getting along in the same area of water. All of a sudden, a little merganser was beating his wings furiously but remaining in the water and set out after another duck. After this happened about 5 times, I could not tell which duck it was, they all look the same except the difference between male and female, one of the ducks hightailed it a lot further away as if to say, I am leaving as I am not winning this bout. After about 2 hours, they all dispersed and were no longer right in front of my bow window where I could see them without my binoculars. I had planned to watch Macy’s parade but this parade was even more special for me today.
This was such an unusual show and I was touched by it happening on Thanksgiving. Mother Nature is so vast and I am so grateful to consider that I am part of her family on this special day. I wanted to share it with you also, so you will glimpse parts of your family that love to share themselves with you. I am so grateful for all of my family members of which you are a part of. Enjoy your Thanksgiving regardless of whom you share it with, you are never alone. I am sending you the peace and joy I received from the birds and ducks; feel it, accept it. You deserve it too.
Here is an article that will bring Mother Nature right to you.
Here are the people who really honor Mother Earth; they are saving the planet for us.
Let us join in and protect our mother, Mother Earth.
This is an example of how the world can come together to help each other.
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Love and Light
Mary Grace
http://www.IAmMaryGrace.com
http://www.TheWoundedChalice.com