Gathering—Gaining Strength—Getting Ready — Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Dayphoto

I know it isn’t going to be long now

The swallows are gathering. Waiting for the little ones to get enough strength to migrate.

Each and every day I watch them start to have more and more Swallows arrive to begin the big migration.

Our swallows are the last to come in the Spring and the last to leave in the fall. It won’t be long now. I hope I can see them go. Only once did I get to see them all lift as one, swirl around the farm and our house as if saying good-bye…then rise way up into the sky in a joyful dance.

And then were gone.

One once! But that once was a Huge wonderful gift!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Time Moves on in It’s Soft, Silent Way — Thursday, August 31, 2023

Posted on August 31, 2023 by Dayphoto

Our world is still full of the song of the swallows—

But the signs are there. Sadly.

They are gathering now. Spending lots of time on the electric wire, chattering and singing.

I love these little birds! They are the last to come in the Spring

And the last to leave in the Summer.

Now they are starting to queue up, disciplining themselves for that long, long flight to other places

Only they know when it is time to take off.

I hope I get to see them gather into a large swirling murmuration;

So I can wave goodbye!

I got to do that ONCE! Only once in my 74 years. Maybe I will get to do it again.

Only time will tell.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

THE WATER HAS COME!!!!—-Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Posted on April 18, 2023 by Dayphoto

THE WATER HAS COME!!!!

And the Barn Swallows are BACK!

And I actually have a few blooms!

YAY! We are on the way to True SPRING!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Gathering —- Monday, August 29, 2022

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Dayphoto

It’s with great sadness I see the swallows are starting to gather

This will go on for several days. The coming together and gathering.

Then, when the newly hatched are strong enough. They will lift up as one.

And leave.

I have only seen them lift off and leave once in my life.

It was unique and precious and very exhilarating.

What a fragile gift our birds are to us.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Air and Sky Around the House is Silent—Thursday, September 5, 2019

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Dayphoto

(From Pinterest)

They have flown…

Yesterday morning, after the sky warmed; they all gathered in a huge bunch

And —-left!

I will miss them.

I tried to make the most of the time they were with us, for I knew they would not always be here.

Good-bye, my little friends. Our house and buildings will be waiting here for your return next Spring.

BUT WAIT!!!!

The passer-throughs- are here! YAY! I still get to have swallows on the wires and singing in the air.

So, although, they won’t be here long, I will have a few each day for a wee spell.

AND THAT! My Friends makes all the difference!

From my world to your heart,

Linda

A Prayer without an Ending or a Beginning—Sunday, September 1, 2019

Posted on September 1, 2019 by Dayphoto

I seemed to have reached a point of ‘understanding’ in my life

I think it is the place we (as humans) have always meant to be

Where we finally realize…just like we ‘knew’ when we freshly arrived into this world of ours

That each day gives you meaning. You need to do more than exist, to never take fortune (luck) for granted

That our lives, each and every one of us, is the prayer — the consequence of being alive

Then by the time elderly age is a reality, the human mind realizes the profoundly magical is made up of the very glorious ordinary moments of a very common day.

Once that is understood, the elderly feel like being — grand, extraordinary, marvelous, terrific, wonderful, tremendous, open to experiences and the excitement of being alive!

(From Pinterest)

From my heart to your world,

Linda

Another Sign of Autumn—-Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Dayphoto

(From Pinterest)

I watch the skies all the time now. (Well, actually, I watch the skies constantly)

Always, searching, looking, gathering clues

The Barn Swallows are starting to gather

We have around 50 or so, I can’t really keep count. They are migrating in and gathering with the ones who have lived here all summer

They rest on the electric wires, in the bushes and the trees by our house in the nighttime.

The daylight hours are full of swoops and twirls as the Mosquitos and other flying bugs become supper.

It’s very nice for us. We can sit outside into —way dark—without even a thought of a Mosquito bite.

Our Swallows still have a nest of baby birds which need to fledge.

But it won’t be long now. I sometimes wonder how those last little fledglings do it. Out of the nest, off they go. Way, way far away.

For a short time they practice, flying high with the other Swallows; everyone gathers, near and far…suspended on the wires. (Sometimes they rest for a few days, only flying off to gather food for a full tummy)

Then they all lift wing as one —-and are gone. Fading away in the sky

I hope I am home when the ‘Great Lift Off’ occurs. I’ve missed it the last two years.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

Heaven’s Winds —- Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Dayphoto

The wind has been rather rough here of late. Days of high winds and cold weather.

Still the fragile fruit trees are blooming…bursting forth in masses of blooms in hopes of having fruit.

The wind is armed with cruel arrows of 20 m.p.h. to 40 m.p.h. bursts trying to shatter and scatter the blooms.

Now, today, it’s cold. Windy and cold.

The little birds sit in pairs trying to keep warm.

Still the work goes on. Early morning to late at night. The spring sunlight breathing cold with the wind, but stunning in the sky.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

A Moment of Relief—Tuesday, August, 30, 2016

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Dayphoto

Last Thursday the heat of the afternoon bore down on us in such a wave of intensity I thought this fall weather had made a huge and dramatic turn back to summer.

Terry was gone for the day, having flew out of Montrose for a meeting in Brighton, Colorado; it was up to Boomer and I to check the irrigation and keep the farm running.

It was late in the afternoon; the gnats and mosquitoes were in swarms of carnivorous activity wherever we walked along the ditch bank—- when I felt the cool down from the swiftly moving clouds.

It started sprinkling just before we got back to the house. Then it started to rain.

Not a bad rain, a gentle rain, a moment of relief from the suffocating heat; enough so the sparrows hung out on the wire taking a bath.

Suddenly the sky turned into hail, the birds, Boomer and I scattering. The blows from the hail and the wind silencing everything and everyone as we hunkered down waiting for the end.

Gradually the noise lessened; the air ringing empty—only the canal talking loudly as the water rushed by.

We got an inch of rain from that storm…a mixed blessing, because of the hail.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

A Deep Hush, Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Dayphoto

The farm at twilight sends out a deep hush

Which says: “Step lightly…listen carefully…

The Swallows catching supper lend a peacefulness to the cooling air.

The plants stir gently in the gentle evening breeze

Glittering moonlight shatters the gloom sending waves of silver–much kinder than the sun, slower…a different rhythm– bringing on that space of time called night.