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Friday, March 8, 2013

Cardinal


I recently read an online article about the physical health benefits we can enjoy by doing something as simple as opening a window.   

In the last few weeks, I’ve been opening windows in our house here and there.  Thursday night I came home, slid open the sliding glass door, and left it open until I went to bed.  While I can’t say there are actual physical benefits to doing so, I can definitely say I’ve been enjoying the refreshment it brings me mentally; especially in the morning.

There is nothing I love more this time of year than when the cardinals in our neighborhood start singing.  We have one Cardinal who sits in a small tree in our backyard every morning without fail: singing and singing.  He’s the brightest color of red and his volume amazes me.  How can a creature so small sing loud enough for me to hear from inside our closed up house?   I often find myself standing on the back deck to listen while drinking my morning cup of coffee.    

What a cliché thing to do, a true Folgers commercial.  

No matter how much I enjoy the winter season, there’s something about spring that acts as a natural anti-depressant, an instant motivator.  Getting up in the morning to run becomes easier, planning this years’ vegetable garden starts, I even found myself dragging a yoga mat onto our back deck (to the one spot without snow) for a short morning practice.  

The last few days I’ve heard some other birds starting to join in the chorus.  I’ll stand at the kitchen window looking into the backyard, watching them flying from tree to tree, stopping to rest on our old gazebo, sometimes hanging out on a section of dried trumpet vine from the previous year.  

I haven’t spotted my first Robin of the year, but I can hear them out there.  Technically, the beginning of the calendar year is January, but the beginning of my year is Spring.  There is no specific date.  I leave that up to the Cardinal in my backyard.