Ordinary Life, Noticed
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | What We Create Together
I didn’t set out to create a community behind the puddle. Actually, I didn’t create one at all. I just finally started noticing the one that was already here. There are the obvious members. The geese and their families, the mallards, Stella and Stanley, Shelly, Pinecone, and the birds that can empty freshly filled feeders… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | Wonder After the Newness Fades
I have seen a Great Blue Heron enough times now that seeing one probably shouldn’t be particularly exciting. And yet it is. Every single time. I know Stella and Stanley visit the puddle. I know they stand along the edge looking for fish. I know they sometimes perch in the trees. I know approximately how… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | Loving What Is Changing
The babies aren’t really babies anymore. I suppose I knew this was going to happen. That is generally what babies do. The little mallards that once stayed tucked together have grown. The young geese that followed their parents through the yard are becoming harder to distinguish from them. The families spread out farther now. There… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | The View That Became Home
We have lived here for a long time. Long enough that I could probably measure parts of our lives by what used to be where. The pool was there. That tree used to be bigger. Something used to grow over there. The girls were little when that happened. The dogs used to run through there.… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | When Peace Sits Down Beside Us
I don’t think peace waits until everything is okay. If it did, I’m not sure many of us would experience very much of it. There is almost always something. Something unfinished. Something uncertain. Someone we are worried about. A decision we haven’t made. A conversation we need to have. A bill that needs paying. A… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | Familiar Places Still Have Secrets
I have a ridiculous number of questions about things that happen behind the puddle. Where does Shelly go when I can’t see her? Where do Stella and Stanley spend the night? Does Pinecone actually live in the white pine, or have I simply decided that is Pinecone’s official residence? Where do all the geese go… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | No Life Makes the Whole Alone
If you spend enough time watching nature, you quickly discover that nature is not particularly peaceful. At least not in the way we usually imagine peace. The geese hiss at one another. Different families establish invisible boundaries in the yard that apparently everyone but me understands. Birds chase each other away from the feeders. Pinecone… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | What We Learn to Protect
There are a surprising number of chores involved in sitting around watching a puddle. The bird feeders need filling. The suet feeders need replacing. The fountain occasionally needs attention, especially when a frog decides the pump looks like a perfectly reasonable place to visit. There is cracked corn to put out, plants to water, things… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | The Joy That Stayed
I used to think joy was supposed to be exciting. The kind of feeling that makes you laugh out loud, take a picture, call someone over to see, or say, “Look! Look at that!” There has certainly been plenty of that behind the puddle. The first time I noticed Stella or Stanley standing along the… Continue reading
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Ordinary Life, Noticed | Nothing Remarkable Happened Today
Some days behind the puddle, absolutely nothing happens. At least nothing that would make much of a story. The birds come to the feeders. A few geese may wander through the yard. The fountain keeps running. Pinecone might make an appearance, although apparently Pinecone does not feel obligated to maintain regular visiting hours. The dogs… Continue reading
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