The View From Here – Happy Monday!

Checking in to see how you were handling your Monday?

I hope it was a good weekend.  Yesterday was Mother’s Day – a day that comes with all kinds of emotions for so many.  My heart goes out to anyone who is missing their mom.  It doesn’t matter how many years pass – it’s a hard day.  It used to be a day I would dread because I knew I would feel the loss.  After over thirty years, I think I’m handling it better and better.  Which just means I don’t break down and cry like I have in previous years. (smile).   I miss my mom so much and always try to do something to remember her on Mother’s Day, and just try to sit in gratitude that I had her as my mom.  Bringing the laughs, the dancing, the music and the love of life.

I realize it’s a day that brings other levels of sadness – if you’ve got a broken relationship with your mom, if you’ve lost a child or if you really want to be a mom and that hasn’t happened yet.  I realize it can be a really hard day and I hope you’re doing okay today.

I was spoiled by my husband and kids.  I felt very blessed yesterday.  There were handmade cards, hanging baskets, and my favourite candy.  (Those Nerd ropes are so good!  Seriously.  Try them if you haven’t).  We ate brunch. We blew giant bubbles.  The best part – we were together.

I did eat a Big Turk in celebration of my mom after my birding adventure in Canatara Park.  So much fun!  After joining Bird Friendly Sarnia on Facebook and seeing pictures of all the different birds showing up in Canatara Park lately, I wanted to be part of the fun.  I love birds and bird watching and it’s something my mom did too.  So – win/ win, right?

I found a new app called Merlin and I’ve been very excited to try it out.  It records sounds all around you and then identifies which birds might be close by.  It’s very cool actually.  I had to move between using my phone and looking at the list of what could be close by and putting the phone down and using my binoculars to hopefully spot something.

According to the app, there were a LOT of different birds in Canatara Park.  But, just like the Northern Lights, others might see them, but I did not.  I saw the “regulars”.  Cardinals.  Robins.  Red winged blackbirds.  I think I saw a Baltimore Oriel.  Hard to tell from a distance, but I’m sure that’s what it was.  Maybe a few warblers.  Grey in colour.  I loved it and it was the perfect way to spend Mother’s Day morning.  I could have stayed there for hours.  Just watching.  All I know is I need better binoculars.  Or glasses.  lol

I hope you had a great weekend and no matter how you celebrated or didn’t celebrate yesterday – I hope it was a special day for you.

Categorised in: Afternoons

This post was written by Carrie Buchanan