Spring

I love Spring. The coolness in the morning air, the green buds on the trees, flowers beginning to bloom--it is just a wonderful season. The first year we lived in Abilene, I bought a hanging pot of flowers to hang on our back porch. Within a few weeks a family of birds had moved into the pot and built and nest. We would have to pull the pot down every day or so to water carefully around the nest. In a few weeks there were baby birds chirping in the nest and we would enjoy watching the mother bird feed her babies. Before we knew it the baby birds were gone-off on their own. The next year, I bought another plant to hang on the porch. Within a few weeks there was another nest! So we went through the whole process again. This year I went out and bought my new hanging plant at Walmart and Phil hung it outside. I promise you, within 5 minutes of hanging that plant, a bird was flying into it with twigs to make a nest. It is soo cool! I wonder if they are the same birds or if the offspring of the original birds came back or what. We are now on our third generation of baby birds. It reminds me of one of my favorite Andy Griffith episodes (I have all the seasons on DVD-my favorite show of all time) The one where Opie has accidently killed the mama bird so he takes care of the baby birds. Then he has to let them go--He tells Andy- Gee, the cage looks awful empty-and Andy tells him, "Yes, but don't the trees look nice and full." That's how we feel when our little baby birds are gone. The plant seems very empty, but our little straggling, Abilene trees look nice and full.