I love my goldfinches. What I mean is, I love how I feel when I see them. I can be crazy busy with some big things to deal with, when I notice "my" goldfinches on my feeder. And, if only for a minute, it slows me down. At that moment, I realize, again, that the nature in which I live is gorgeous..not a random gorgeous but an on purpose gorgeous. I think how the little things in life are what make it rich. Sometimes all it takes is minute to notice something...like my goldfish.
As I see this print, I can hardly believe that I am using "my" and "goldfish" together as I am not usually connected to such temporary pets. In fact, I think of them of part of the rights of passage when growing up. The icky stuff floating on top of murky water that has your child mesmerized as they bond with a tiny creature that you know is going to, well, die. You know when you buy it at the store that it won't be long until you are making up a story of its journey back to its mother (or as my daughter told my grandson, his fishy went in a taxi back to Colorado to see his mommy..wait, that is what he told her..no matter. You get the point.) Then Dave built me a pond.
It was a short time after Mom died that my sister and I had to take a business trip. I didn't want to leave. It felt like breaking a tether when I left my house. My comfort was rocked and neither of us wanted to go. A few days later when I returned, there was Chad our carpenter, standing in a waist-deep hole that was to be my pond. I had talked about it forever, and now, here it was. Dave was doing everything he could to ease us through losing Mom; the pond would help.
A few days later, we needed to buy fish. Off we went to the pet shop, (the smell is another blog!) We were looking at Koi. These LITTLE gold and white fish ranged from $25 to, are you sitting down? $2500! If I had allowed myself to breathe, it would have taken my breath away! Was there ANY alternative I whispered to Dave. He asked. Well, there was GOLDFISH. The clerk said the word like the shop smelled. So, I pondered, $25 or 89 cents? Hmmm, lets see. I choose the goldfish. Carrying to the car the plastic bag with already murky water and 6 swimmy fishes, we shared that this is one thing we thought we would NEVER do. When we got back to the pond, we released our little captives with the plea to at least live a few days. And that they have.
A month or so later, I call out,"Hi, Fishies"and they swim right to me. I feed them as my Cocker spaniels slurp up the pond while their ears soak in fish-poo water. But, I love them all. They are one more example of how the smallest thing can add richness to your life, if you just notice.
My sister and I are all about noticing the small things in life that connect us to nature and each other. We know that our Mr Canary feeders are not the be-all and end-all of the bird feeding industry. They are just another little thing that draws us to nature and increases our respect of it.
As I see this print, I can hardly believe that I am using "my" and "goldfish" together as I am not usually connected to such temporary pets. In fact, I think of them of part of the rights of passage when growing up. The icky stuff floating on top of murky water that has your child mesmerized as they bond with a tiny creature that you know is going to, well, die. You know when you buy it at the store that it won't be long until you are making up a story of its journey back to its mother (or as my daughter told my grandson, his fishy went in a taxi back to Colorado to see his mommy..wait, that is what he told her..no matter. You get the point.) Then Dave built me a pond.
It was a short time after Mom died that my sister and I had to take a business trip. I didn't want to leave. It felt like breaking a tether when I left my house. My comfort was rocked and neither of us wanted to go. A few days later when I returned, there was Chad our carpenter, standing in a waist-deep hole that was to be my pond. I had talked about it forever, and now, here it was. Dave was doing everything he could to ease us through losing Mom; the pond would help.
A few days later, we needed to buy fish. Off we went to the pet shop, (the smell is another blog!) We were looking at Koi. These LITTLE gold and white fish ranged from $25 to, are you sitting down? $2500! If I had allowed myself to breathe, it would have taken my breath away! Was there ANY alternative I whispered to Dave. He asked. Well, there was GOLDFISH. The clerk said the word like the shop smelled. So, I pondered, $25 or 89 cents? Hmmm, lets see. I choose the goldfish. Carrying to the car the plastic bag with already murky water and 6 swimmy fishes, we shared that this is one thing we thought we would NEVER do. When we got back to the pond, we released our little captives with the plea to at least live a few days. And that they have.
A month or so later, I call out,"Hi, Fishies"and they swim right to me. I feed them as my Cocker spaniels slurp up the pond while their ears soak in fish-poo water. But, I love them all. They are one more example of how the smallest thing can add richness to your life, if you just notice.
My sister and I are all about noticing the small things in life that connect us to nature and each other. We know that our Mr Canary feeders are not the be-all and end-all of the bird feeding industry. They are just another little thing that draws us to nature and increases our respect of it.
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