Relaxing Moments
Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites
Relaxing Away the Stress, Birdwatching
"Let's play hide & seek...."
My husband Tom and I were enjoying a morning breakfast of Rice Chex in skim milk this morning - mine topped off with a dash of Splenda (Tom prefers the 'real' deal) and we had the kitchen windows open so we could look outside to see the birds.
Our house is very quaint - so we don't have a separate dining area, but fortunately the kitchen is situated so as we can see a couple of good-sized silver maple trees in which we have placed bird feeders.
This is the first fall that we have spent at this place so we weren't sure what variety of birds we would be seeing when migration began.
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In our former place of residence, swarms of red-winged blackbirds visited us and it was a challenge - keeping up with the birdseed.
At that time we lived 25 miles from town so it was a 50 mile round trip whenever we ran out of something - and it seemed that we were always running out of birdseed.
Anyway, this year - we are being visited by a good-many goldfinches.
They are a rather friendly species and have been very patient whenever we take out our cameras to capture a moment with them.
Most birds tend to quickly scatter the moment one draws out a camera.
Birds are awfully smart - but perhaps they can't tell the difference from a gun and a camera. After all, both actually 'shoot'.
Breakfast is a Great Time of Day to Relax & Enjoy Mother Nature's Gifts
It is always fun to enjoy our breakfast while we watch the birds enjoy their breakfast. And oh how these little goldfinches love thistle seeds!
But as we sat there trying to wake up, suddenly - out of the blue, a huge crow flew down and perched on one of the larger branches of a silver maple tree.
Yesterday, I had wedged some stale bread between the larger branches and this is what had drawn him in - and he immediately attacked the bread, pulling one whole slice into his beak and flying away.
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Tom and I chuckled and he drew a memory to mind from a few years back.
It had been bitterly cold and we were iced in. The roads were terribly dangerous and the storm was so bad that many of the stores in the area had shut down. We had ran completely out of birdseed so I baked pans and pans of cornbread. The crows loved it but what was surprising was that they would carry away huge chunks of the cornbread and pause in our yard to bury it beneath leaves as well as inside the earth.
This memory kicked off many thoughts in my tiny brain. If you've ever tried to lose weight and the munchies hit - if there was a pantry full of goodies, if you were like me I'd ignore the carrots and grab the cookies. I was like the crows - I would stash some goodies that I loved in the pantry just in case. And when the munchies kicked in - I kicked my weight loss plan right out the Diet Door and then slammed it in its face.
If you are currently trying to drop those unwanted pounds, this time of year is particularly trying.
Everywhere you look - people are celebrating the season with delicious foods and drinks. On those occasions when you find it difficult to resist temptation, try not to be too naughty.
And if you are, when meal time arrives opt for a delicious salad with low calorie dressing OR a serving of soup. Once you fill your tummy with food - you'll forget all about trashing your diet with those unhealthy, high calorie holiday foods and drinks. And that's something to chirp about!
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