WELCOME, FRIEND! by janetb

WELCOME, FRIEND!

I built a business on the joy of backyard birdfeeding. We built our home on the joy of backyard birdfeeding. My Dad loved birds, and a canary’s song gladdened my childhood home and heart. My Mom loved cardinals. “Redbirds,” she’d call them. My love of birds began early.

After purchasing this 2.19 acre woodland, yet before construction even began, we poked in a pole and hung a birdfeeder. Inspired by the huge window in the Discovery Room at nearby Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, the home of Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania where I volunteered as a naturalist, we designed our home to include a sunroom — our own Discovery Room of sorts. When we moved in, many more feeders went up; and the sunroom became a source of great entertainment. I filled nature journals with recorded sightings of species I’d never imagined would grace us with their spectacular presence. A Field Sparrow? An Evening Grosbeak? A Pine Siskin? Really? Indeed. Beautiful birds, so easily observed through the huge window built for that very purpose, brought us joy beyond measure for 13 wonderful years. And then they stopped.

When construction of a new, larger deck ended, so did backyard birdfeeding. With no place to hang feeders within easy view, the sunroom became just a sunny room. No more flurry of fabulous activity just beyond the pane of glass. We tried suctioning feeders to the windows and sprinkling seeds on the sills. Every attempt to attract our feathered friends into full view failed for one reason or another. A huge-and-I-mean-huge part of our lives changed and not for the better.

We gazed longingly out that big window, always hopeful, for 8 long years; and this week, my beloved noticed something. With “Hey, that hemlock branch looks like it’s grown enough to hold a feeder now!,” a huge-and-I-mean-huge part of our lives changed. WELCOME, FRIEND!

------------

But there's a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begin.
― Mitch Albom, For One More Day
Beautiful photo! So glad the birds can come back!!
November 23rd, 2021  
Sweet capture.
November 23rd, 2021  
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.