Bluebird Sky

When I took my walk yesterday I headed up the road to a favorite spot.  Pine trees shade this path.  The shadows are always impressive.  Moving from bright sunlight to shade, I felt

 the comfort of the season. Winter is not dreary here in the Ozarks. We have our share of freezing temperatures and ice followed by snow.  But after all, it is winter.

I had a smile on my face while I trudged along on my way to the end of the road.  What made me smile?  The beautiful blue sky.  There were a few clouds but they were those wispy kind that seem to trail along with any good weather.  I stood there and gazed up and up, tilting my head and walking around so I could see the sky from every angle.  The sun was behind me and the light was perfect in bringing out the blue above me, the green pines beside me.

I love these first days of the new year.  Most animals are hiding in their burrows, dens, and nests.  They know that the pleasant afternoon will turn to frigid night.  The scurrying hunt for food goes on when the sun comes up and the temperature rises.  I see a few squirrels hopping along in the grass, looking for a nut they might have missed.  The crows gather on my driveway, pecking in the gravel for seeds or some scrap of food that might be hiding in the rocky ground.  I do not have a bird feeder.  It is just too breezy up here on the hill.  The seed would soon be scattered to the four winds.  And I can't imagine any bird who would want to feed while being blown around, sometimes at an awkward angle.

No, rather than looking for animals, I look up and out.  Across my neighbor's field, up into the Refuge.  The sky spreads above me.  Just as a friend said when she saw this picture.  "A bluebird sky".

Yes, indeed.  And may we have many more.