When Everything Falls Apart, Feed the Birds

Some days, the best I can do is to go for a walk.

I can’t do anything about the fires burning in Australia, about the lives lost, both human and animal, or the homes and habitat destroyed.

I can’t do anything about the earthquakes in Puerto Rico.

I can’t do anything about Iran.

Especially Iran.

Today, this day, there is nothing I can do about any of that.

But I can feed the birds, the bright community that gathers daily outside my kitchen window.

I can get them clean water for their bird bath.

I can ask my husband to stop at the feed store and bring home a 40 pound bag of black oil sunflower seeds, since we ran out just after Christmas. Forty pounds of seed will last awhile. That in itself makes me happy. I can then slip on his old shoes which are a little too big for me, my favorite shoes for gardening, and go out in the muck to fill the empty feeders. I know that the clever mama deer will probably have emptied the feeder she can reach by early tomorrow morning. She seems to wander into the front yard everyday, and she’s the only one who has figured out how to do it. I’ve watched other deer try; they just can’t get the hang of it. So good for her. There is still plenty left for the birds.

I can bring in the empty sacks that hold seed for the finches and fill those using a funnel that I got from my Mom’s house.  I love that funnel, which is stained purple from berries. She used it to make jam, I think. It is also perfect for guiding the tiny seeds into the flimsy sacks.  I think about my Mom whenever I use it. A win win.

I can fill the feeders and then snap on my dog’s leash and take him for a walk. It’s good to get outside.

Some wise person once said that no act of kindness is ever wasted. I think that today,  the best I can do is to fill the bird feeders and walk the dog. Hopefully, for today, that will be enough.