The birds... and the bees.... and the flowers...

In the forward of her book, Simple Abundance, a Daybook of Comfort and Joy, Sarah Ban Breathnach writes about the journey to turn her rather chaotic life into one of a manageable lifestyle, one in which she lives in a state of grace. She writes about finding “the Sacred in the ordinary, the Mystical in the mundane, fully entering into the sacrament of the present moment....”

Sometimes the truth of what she write makes me want to cry out for joy, and sometimes it just reminds me of New Age mumble jumble psychobabble and I am tempted to hurl it against the wall. I don't, but sometimes I set it down and don't read it again for months.

What I have learned from her is not really anything new, just reaffirming how much joy and beauty and amazement there is in the simple things of life, appreciating the simple beauty that surrounds us.

Most of my time is occupied working – my husband does most of the housework.

I take visual breaks often – lifting my eyes from the computer monitor to watch the birds congregating at the feeding stations outside the window. Small groups of goldfinch, all of them dressed in their drab winter garb, used to mob the bird feeders; now they have mostly dispersed to commence setting up housekeeping, except for an occasional bird...

who is now dressed up and looking for a date.

I take a few breaks during the day to get and move. I step outside, sometimes to walk up to the highway with Richard to get the mail, or to walk part of the way with him – I do better walking a brisk mile twice a day then walking in one 2-mile session.

I spot a patch of red clover growing along the right of way. Its seed was mixed into the material that was sprayed to prevent erosion after the highway was finished 10 years ago, and it has continued to reseed itself.

The bees find it very attractive.

And the Dames Rocket has begun to bloom alongside the driveway and along the path leading to the bottom pasture. This lovely wildflower, which shoots up stalks as tall as my shoulder, smells faintly like carnation if you stick your nose right into it. 

I wonder if the bees smell it too.

Honeybees are not doing too well these days, whether from mites or disease or whatever, but this one – whether from a wild hive or a kept hive, has been busy...

 it’s leg pouches are filled with yellow pollen.

Watching a bee working a flower... a simple thing... a thing of beauty... a thing of joy...