Giving and Receiving.

We just enjoyed a wonderful surprise weekend with Butterfly and The Boy, and it was delightful. They were supposed to meet friends for a winter getaway, but work schedules conflicted, and they had to cancel those plans. They quickly made use of their free weekend and joined us up here at the farm for a couple of days. We had expected other company but discovered at the last minute they couldn’t come, so everything worked out, and we had a great time with the kids.

An unexpected visit with loved ones is a terrific gift to unwrap and enjoy, and we did just that this weekend. The weatherman gave us a gift too and sent us sunshine and a touch of fresh snow to make for fun walks along the snowshoe trails and across the fields. What fun! Cold and refreshed after our walks, we entered the warm embrace of the old farmhouse for delicious comfort food and rousing games of Trivial Pursuit.

The highlight of the weekend was something new for the kids though: feeding the birds. Well, maybe I should say, feeding the birds by holding food in your hand and having the birds come and eat right out of your hand! You can see lots of pictures here and here of this grand adventure.

Something that started out as our little Christmas gift for the birds has turned into and absolutely fabulous gift to us instead. We give the wee birds apples and peanut butter, and they give us their trust and cheery little greetings in return. What a priceless gift from these fluffy, feathered wonders.

We go out to the feeding tree now, and the birds are all-aflutter above our heads, as they chirp at us happily and wait for the treats we bring. It is thrilling to have them come so close and alight upon us.

We have had quite a temperature drop in the past couple of days, and I imagine they are struggling a bit to keep warm at night. Isn’t it amazing how they survive in the forest when the temperature drops to –30C? I have always marvelled at that and wonder how in the world they keep warm in such conditions.

I went out and tended to the feeders this morning and enjoyed talking to the wee, feathered bundles as I did. I asked them how their night had been, and they chirped their answers back to me. I also asked them how they kept warm at night, but they wouldn’t let me in on their secret. I think they must have very special long underwear knitted for them by Mother Nature, but I guess I will never know for sure. They are being very “tight-beaked” about that subject.



Later in the afternoon, AC and I were going out for another walk, and as I was ready a few minutes before AC, I walked along the laneway to see what was going on over at the feeding tree. I stood there, quite a distance from the tree, and when the birds saw me they came over to where I was standing to see what I had for them. I didn’t have anything so I called for AC to bring a knife and the peanut butter. He did, and seeing as I wasn’t anywhere near the tree, I just loaded up the knife with peanut butter and held it out for them. They swooped down and sat on my hand while they had a little bedtime snack, eating right off the knife. I sure hope their mothers weren’t watching because I could hear my mother’s voice in my ear, saying “Don’t eat off your knife!”

The whole experience of feeding the birds has been totally awesome and has taught me many lessons over the past few weeks.

Fear keeps some of the birds flitting back and forth from branch to branch but never coming over to my hand for a mouthful of food. Others are very brave and just dive in and chow down after a couple of test passes over my head. I know there has to be a balance between reckless behaviour and facing your fear and doing it anyway, but these little creatures have painted a very vivid picture of the benefits of getting off that comfortable familiar branch in my life and alighting on something new. Fear holds us back and keeps good things from us and us from good things. We have to use a certain amount of caution, but there comes a time to jump off the branch, take a chance and live life to the full. There are all sorts of wonderful “treats” in new wrappings, waiting for us in unexpected places.

I also learned that we can’t order or predict what kind of gifts we will get in return for our actions, but if we don’t do anything, we will never know what joys are waiting out there for us. I reached out with a small gift for Mother Nature and she sent little Chickadee paint-brushes to paint vivid life lessons for me.

Put your time and talents out into the universe and see what comes back to you in return.