Honoring Mother Earth

First, Happy Mother's Day. Well, what's left of it....

Since my Mother's Day was fairly low key-remember my son lives in Cleveland and is a poor college student-I treated myself to one of my favorite dinners-snacks! First there was corn chips, a banana and tea at the lake. Then, when I got home I had some pickled bologna, cheese and crackers. And now I am dipping my hand into a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I just love to snack on dry cereal and this is right up there with Cheerios.

I stopped at the lake this afternoon. It was a beautiful day, if a bit on the cool side. My only companions were a couple seagulls standing at the waters edge facing toward the sun, dipping their heads for a drink every so often. They were watching and waiting for me to move away-too shy to move any closer to eat the corn chip crumbs I'd shared. A mallard, about 20 yards out in the water, swimming along and disappearing once in a while as he dove for his dinner. A nuthatch hopping up and down the trunk of a huge white pine, dressed in his little waiter's tuxedo-you know the waiter with the slicked back hair and the pencil mustache from the old 40's movies? That's what they remind me of. And a crow sitting on a tree branch off to my right side, cawing every so often and listening for an answer with his head tilted like he was really paying attention.

I was serenaded by birdsong and the light breeze whispering in the tops of the trees. The sun cast a warm glow from the dome of pale blue sky, bordered by a layer of shallow white clouds around the rim. The sand was cool, the water, cold. I can't go there without sticking my toes in.

I took my shoes and socks off, and rolled up my pant legs, so that I could walk along the water's edge. There's about a half mile stretch of beach. As I started to walk, I kept seeing little pieces of trash. Chunks of foam from someone's cooler, plastic bottle caps, and other assorted trash. So I went back to the picnic table and got the baggie I'd brought for my trash and resumed my walk. I filled that bag and could have used a second one. And there aren't even people using the beach yet.

Imagine how much there is on a summer day. Yes, I know the park employees come along every morning and pick up trash and move all the picnic tables back up away from the shoreline(I get tired of dragging one back down there every day), but they don't get the little things. The cigarette butts, the little sticks for the cheese and cracker trays, candy wrapper pieces, popcan tabs.

So... every time I go to the lake this summer, in honor of Mother Earth, I am going to walk along the shoreline and pick up trash. Only I'll use their little trash bags. Just to keep my little corner of the world a bit cleaner. I'll feel good and have "killer" leg muscles from walking a mile in that wet sand. My shins and outer thighs are a bit sore tonight.

I can add a Ruby-throated Hummingbird to my list. He almost flew into my face this afternoon. I thought it was still too early for them, it's below average temps for this time of year.

If anyone gets tired of reading about all the birds, I'll stop listing them....but my posts will be alot shorter...she chuckles as she strolls away...

~Thanks For Stopping By~