Blue Jay from Flickr

Blue Jay Set #3
Originally uploaded by wjklos

Here in California, our Blue Jays don't look like this, as to color and markings, but they look exactly like this, as to body language, when they are being sassy. They make me laugh all the time. If you give them peanuts in a shell, they shake it to find out if it's good. If it's not, they drop it, and wait for another. If you don't give them one, you're likely to get a loud protesting squawk. They look just like this Blue Jay. How they decide if the peanuts in the shell are good, I have no idea, but they know, and they can't be fooled with an old musty peanut.

Getting Old--It Can Be Fun

Today, I am 90! I remember when I was young, wondering how long I would live and what it would be like. The thought of being in my seventies seemed beyond the pale. As for 90, I never thought I would make it. But here I am, healthy, and much happier than I was in younger years. Now I know who I am and like it. I write every day, paint every day, and walk every day.

So this seems like the time to reassure those who fear getting old that it can be the best time of your life. The competition of youth is gone; people's expectations become more benign and generous; and you have time to pay attention to all the interesting and beautiful things you previously ignored. You can think about things that have always eluded you. You can be nicer to people. You can look at oddities of other people with an understanding heart.

I encourage anyone who is beginning to panic at signs of aging and at the thought of getting old, to take a different look. You have had the experience of being young. Now you are gradually moving toward experiences that are different, but not necessarily any less enjoyable. You don't have to deteriorate or fall apart. You can find new things to be interested in and do. You can make new friends. There are so many possibilities! You can have fun for the rest of your life, if you choose to. Then, whatever the quantity of life you have, the quality of it will be good.

I had a time when I wasn't walking and had a problem with weight. I was out of energy, and life seemed frustrating. Not being able to get into my largest pants was finally a wake-up call. In some of my future blogs, I will tell you what I did to change things, stabilize my weight, and get my energy and my joy in life back again.

I wish everyone an active, creative, and happy life in their sixties, seventies, and beyond.

Gray Catbird

Gray Catbird
Originally uploaded by Jeff Kubina

I don't know anything about catbirds, but saw this on Flickr and couldn't resist it.. I'll have to find out more about these birds--don't think I've ever seen one. Or maybe I have and didn't know what it was. Anyway, it's cute!

Autumn in December

This year the trees are wild with color
Trees that go from green to tan each year
Drop their dull dead leaves and stand bare
This year are brilliant reds and yellows
Explosions of color all over town

But this is California in winter
Not New England in the fall
What brought this opulent display?

The early frost perhaps
Conferred this gift of color
A gift not likely to come again
Until some other year of early frost
Brings autumn in December

Barred Owl

 

Wish I could be as wise as this little guy looks.

My Christmases Have Changed

I didn't send cards this year
Or last year
Or the year before
I used to send them faithfully
To everyone I knew and cared about
It seemed important
To remember them all each year

This year, I remember them all
And I miss them
Whose cards were returned in other years
Telling me they had moved
Not to a new address on this planet
But to the mystery
That lies beyond human life

This is the dilemma
That comes with living long

But the good part is
There are new friends
To appreciate and love
New ideas
To make life interesting
And music
To lift the soul

Where Have I Been?

No poems, no posts--shame on me! But I am getting in gear again, and will soon post the rest of the story of Nellie the Night Heron, who made friends with some people in Shell Beach, California.

Also, in addition to the rest of the saga of Nellie, I will be back with some pictures and poems and other things. I've been watching Turkey Vultures when I walk on Bob Jones trail, just south of San Luis Obispo. They roost in tall trees at the end of the day, and sometimes, before that, play in the wind currents, soaring for ever so long without even flapping their wings. I used to shudder at the thought of a vulture, but now I see them in a different way. For one thing, they keep the earth clean, and we shouldn't look down on them just because of the unattractiveness of the important niche they fill. Oddly enough, they have mild dispositions, and never kill anything. They just eat things that are already dead. In situations where they have to be under the care of people, they can become very fond of them, and follow them around like a dog.