Quietness

I know that I have been very quiet over the past couple of months. A good friend in South Dakota wrote and asked if I was ok and it set me to thinking. Why have I stopped writing? I think the answer is - I am tired.

By nature I am an introvert. The holidays meant a lot of time with people, parties, meetings and so forth. Now, I do enjoy these things, and I do enjoy people - but after a while, I need to just hole up. And I think that is what I have been doing.

Yes, I have been going to church, attending the women's Bible study, continuing my Russian lesson each week, having a few friends over during the week. But in the past two weeks I have also read 5 books, knitted several inches on a small afghan I'm making, started walking and doing light weights on a regular basis again, and spent a lot of time talking with my daughter via Instant Messaging about a vacation we hope to take together later this year. In the process I have not been writing very much.

I miss it.

While I was out walking last week I decided to do my "old route" down the street, around the cemetary and back. It's about a two mile walk and I can almost walk it with my eyes closed. (Now that brings to mind some interesting possibilities!)

After I turned the corner near the cemetary and started up the low rise I heard the birds chattering away and started looking for them. I knew it was a flock of sparrows, but I couldn't tell for sure where they were at. Step, step, chatter, chatter, step, step, chatter, total silence. Ahhh - so there you are! I never did see them as they were hidden away inside some thickly branched bushes, but they saw me! I could feel the weight of hundreds of bright little eyes watching me carefully to make sure I was actually going to walk on past and not come over to the bushes searching for a tasty bird snack! Sure enough, I passed the thickest part of the bushes and it was as if God flipped a switch. CHATTER, CHATTER, step, step, CHATTER, CHATTER. It is amazing how much noise a flock of little birds can make!
These may be the same birds, but this photo was taken several months ago, very near the same spot.

I love birds. But they are NOT quiet!