A pair of robins built a nest in our backyard this spring and we have been watching as a baby has hatched and grown up in the nest (no pictures because I didn’t want to get too close). The parents fly out and bring back food for the baby and we’ve been able to see, from a safe distance, meal time and the process of this little guy growing up. This last week, the baby has been learning to fly. I always get so stressed out watching baby birds learning to fly because I’m afraid they’re going to get caught by a cat or hurt themselves or get scooped up by a hawk or taken by a well-meaning-but-misdirected human. With so many odds against them, it’s really amazing that they are able to make it at all. I think this little guy, though, is going to make it. Our backyard is fenced and cats don’t really go back there much, and there are lots of places for birds to hide, so it makes for a pretty safe bird sanctuary. What a treat it’s been to watch this whole process.
I’ve been really trying to stay positive lately. It’s definitely a struggle to stay positive when you’ve opened your heart and mind to the suffering in the world. But I’ve been trying to appreciate the beauty and positive things in the world in the hopes of keeping my stress levels down so that I can ultimately be a more effective advocate for animals and other marginalized groups. Sometimes (okay, maybe most of the time) I forget how important self-care is and how much of a difference it can make to spend some time appreciating all the good things in the world.
I tend to find this kind of positivity most in the natural world. The last week in Seattle has been like middle-of-summer weather — in the 70s and 80s, sunny, light breeze, etc. Our garden has been overwhelmed with blooms and I walk outside and sigh a little from the beauty of the garden. The garden smells sweet, mostly because of these guys:
I love lilacs. When we moved in 6+ years ago, one of the first things we did was to plant a tiny lilac bush right out front. Since then, it has grown into quite a *large* lilac bush and gets bigger every year. That’s fine by me though. It sure is pretty. Last fall I mentioned here on the blog that I planted 50 tulip bulbs (pinks and purples with crinkly edges). Miraculously (and I say miraculously because I’ve always had terrible luck planting bulbs), they came up this spring and I’ve been waiting eagerly since I saw their first green shoots pop up in February for this:
And this:
And then of course, there’s this one:
And this one:
When my mom was here in March, we added to our front garden (dug out some of the grass and added more garden space) and planted these anenomes, among other things:
These have literally been blooming continuously for about 6 weeks. Amazing. Eric and I did massive gardening and spending time outside this weekend. The animals got lots of time outside, too. We all got lots of Vitamin D (except for Eden who likes to stay inside these days — too many scary noises outside).
We went to the dog park several days last week where Maizy got to swim and Saoirse got to wander around smelling stuff. And we all spent some time sitting around in the grass. This is Maizy’s “Please won’t you play with me, please…?!” look (it’s hard to get a non-blurry shot of this pose for some reason):
And here’s Saoirse’s:
Of course, then they realized they could play with each other.
I haven’t posted an update on Saoirse in a while. The short of it is that she’s doing really well. She’s adapting more and more to life outside the lab. We’ve been trying to take her out on adventures so she gets used to different places and people and dogs. One of her favorite outings is to Eric’s mom’s house. They have a fenced-in yard and Maizy and Saoirse and Mally, have a great time. She’s also getting to like the dog park more and more. And, as always, she loves Maizy so much.
These last couple of days have been quite hot and we all have enjoyed cool afternoon snacks of watermelon. Maizy has always loved watermelon and now Saoirse loves it too. It’s hard not to feel happy hanging out with these guys.
What do you do to try to stay positive? How did you all spend the weekend?
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What a great post, Katie. The flowers look so beautiful; I would like to get some of those very fancy tulips, myself.
Your garden would look great with some fancy tulips in the mix! Thanks, Ma!
I agree, those tulips are very fancy! I only had 4 Tulips bloom this year… but my oh my were there beautiful!
Your garden looks like a little slice of wonderful.
A little slice of wonderful! That’s awfully nice. Thanks, Lucy! 🙂 Glad you got some blooms this year, too.
Katie, thanks for this inspiration – although I haven’t been loving the heat, the sun does make everything seem more possible. In response to your question, the thing that brings me the most positive energy, affirmation and joy is spending time in conversation with kindred spirits. Thanks for sharing time with me today! I have continued to reflect on the difficulty of asking for what I need – The first challenge of self-care, I suppose, is to ask it of yourself: self-care is indeed a challenge.
Sara — thank you for this! I agree that self-care is tough, but that an important part of it is being brave and asking for what you need (even if it is SO HARD!). It was lovely spending time with you. Thanks for a great conversation. 🙂
What a beautiful post, Katie. Thank you for making me smile.
Thanks, Carrie! Glad it could brighten your day a little!