Lessons from Nature

My thoughts have been drawn to springtime this week like a young man's thoughts which are turned lightly to love.  What has nature's example taught me?  These five lessons are this week's Fave Five from Willow's Cottage.

1. Beauty often lies in the details.

2. Never under estimate the power of a storm.  Southern California has been slammed with back to back rain and wind storms this week.  While we are used to the occasional three day rain storm blowing in off the Pacific Ocean, the storm on Sunday was unusually violent.  Trees were toppled on the nearby golf course, in local neighborhoods, and along the freeways.  Rain turned to snow in the coastal mountains closing the main freeway route from the San Joaquin Valley into the Los Angeles basin.  At least two of our neighbors sustained damage to their homes, and we all lost our electricity for a while on Sunday evening.  While our little inconveniences are NOTHING compared to what the brave people of Japan are suffering, this storm was a timely reminder of the power of wind and rain.  It was not your typical little spring rain storm.

3. This little ground squirrel exemplified an interesting quality-the refusal to be deterred from his goal.  While we were taking a break in our twelve mile bike ride along the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, we propped our bikes up near a picnic table, sat down and ate our bag lunches.  Mr. Squirrel wanted to share.  He was hungry.  He was determined.  Whenever we shooed him away, Squirrel Boy returned and crept ever close, even climbing up my bike tire to reach the table's bench and hopefully snatch a crumb from my peanut butter sandwich.  He was persistent!

4. The white heron taught me a lesson, too.  He was perched on a truck cab in the lot where we parked our car while we were biking.  Although cars drove in and out past the grey truck, the heron never moved.  He turned his head back and forth a few times but he stayed right there on the truck looking decidedly bewildered and out of place since we were several hundred feet away from the river bed and even farther from the beach.  He seemed to be thinking, "Uhh, this doesn't look much like the beach.  But the pelican told me to fly south."  I was reminded of the truth that even if you are sincere and adamant in your belief, if you're wrong, you're still sincerely wrong.

5. Finally, the sagest advice I took away from this week came from the humble seagull.  Always make sure they photograph your good side.

Have you learned anything this week from feathered friends or wacky weather?  Share it!  And if you want, join Susanne's Friday Fave Five at her blog Living To Tell The Story.