Hope and Fear

This morning I had to do something that I have been putting off for several weeks. I needed to go to WalMart. I used to love WalMart, but it is so crowded and I buy so much stuff that I don't really need that I have been practicing avoidance. Today the streak had to end. I drove through the fog of the inversion to WalMart where the parking lot was surprisingly empty. As I easily navigated the store, I was struck by the fact that there was almost no one shopping. One lady commented to me about how quiet it was and I remarked that it was "scary quiet."

Our family is suffering the effects of a slow economy- complete with a pay cut. I know that many families across the country and in my own neighborhood are being affected by job loss. As a news junkie, I realize that the economy is in bad shape. But fear overcame me this morning when I realized the scope of the problem- as evidenced by a WalMart that was eerily empty. If the daddy of all big box stores is suffering to that extent, how will the smaller stores survive? How can it be turned around?

As I am generally a positive-minded person, hope resurfaced in short order. What a wonderful thing it was to watch as the Presidency of our great nation was handed over with grace and peace. This was the 44th time that we have had a peaceful transfer of power. How amazing! And how much more amazing that this time, the new President is African-American? It was not that long ago that blacks were enslaved as property and even more recent that they were harrassed and terrorized for wanting equal rights. I have hope that if we can change that much as a nation, we can do what it takes to come out of this recession. It is a new day and I hope that America is ready for change. I know that I am.

Twitterpated

ABL_FeatheredFriends_12x12_DandyLion, DMI_Serene_strip, LCO_DecorativeSwirls_Grunged ( all from Scrap Girls)

Although I grew up in Maine. . . perhaps BECAUSE I grew up in Maine, I have always loved summer. I love soft, comfy, loose clothing. Cold Diet Cokes on the backyard swing. Balmy breezes. Easy schedules. Children laughing while they play. The crack of the bat at the stadium. And hummingbirds.

This summer I have become twitterpated with hummingbirds. I put out feeders at my home and at our cabin in the nearby mountains in the spring so that the hummingbirds would know that they had a haven. It wasn’t long before they were zipping around and draining the feeder at the cabin before I could get down there to refill it! To solve this problem, I simply bought more feeders and kept them filled by making nectar by the gallon nearly every week.

As the summer deepened, my hummingbirds would wake me at first light with the buzz of their wings and their angry chatter as they defended their favorite feeders. They would feed and then zip over to the limbs of a snag to rest before coming back to the feeder. They seemed mostly unconcerned about our presence. At one of the feeders we could have reached out of the window and touched them as they came to feed, but our intention was to watch and enjoy- not to torment.

But things are changing. The air during the Labor Day weekend had a definite edge to it. Gone were the balmy breezes of summer; replaced by the crisp, clear mornings that are the harbingers of autumn. The hummingbirds seemed to have a new-found intensity in their feeding. The feeders were the center action as the hummers swarmed them. They must feel the change, too.

Soon the nights will become too cool and my tiny friends will have to migrate to warmer climes. I will miss the loud hum of the broad-tailed hummers, the chatter of the black-chinned hummers, and the aggressive behavior of the flashy rufous hummers. I will miss sitting outside on a warm morning trying to get that perfect photo. I will miss watching my son’s face as he stands at the window watching the hummers hover with rapt fascination. But, I will be ready for them again next spring as soon as the breezes shift to the south and nights become more mild. Until then, I’ll have to be content with the antics of my chickadees.