BIRD BATHING

It was early afternoon and I was sitting on my back deck reading a book when my son, Alex, came out and sat down in the chair next to me.

“You just get up?” I asked as I marked my spot in my book before putting it down on the table.

Alex was rubbing his eyes. “Yeah, I was up till four working on my game.”

“How's it going?” I was truly interested. Alex design's video games and even though I had little knowledge about writing code I knew he was good at it and more importantly, he loved it.

“Pretty good.” he looked over at me. “I'm making progress.” He stretched and looked over at our small bistro table. “Is that our pasta bowl?”

“Yup.”

“Why's it out here?” He got up and walked over to it. “And why's it filled with water?”

“I'm conducting a little experiment.”

Alex came back and sat down. “What kind of experiment?”

“I'm seeing if a bird bath is worth investing in.”

“WHAT!” Alex looked slightly disgusted.

“Birds need water.” I picked up my water glass, taking a small sip as if to prove my point. “Not only to drink but to clean their feathers and get rid of any parasites.” I set my glass back down.

Alex looked back over to the pasta bowl. “So now that's going to be filled with bird parasites?”

“No, I told you I'm just using it as an experiment.” I pointed over to the bird feeders that were filled with birds. “As soon as one of them shows some interest, I'm bringing the pasta bowl back in and going to buy a real bird bath for them.”

Alex just shook his head. “What got you started on this?” He gave a resigned sigh.

“Remember how hard it rained last night?” I pointed to the deck where there were still a few puddles. “Well, I was running to the store this morning and you know that pothole at the end of our street?” Alex nodded so I continued. “Well, it was filled with water and three robins were trying to bathe in it! I almost ran over them!” I was hoping Alex would see my reasoning. “I was going to pick up a bird bath right then but, I decided to see if they'd use it.”

“And?”

“Well, so far no one's been interested.” I sighed.

“How long have you had it out?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe half an hour.”

“And you're positive no birds have been in it so far?”

“Positive.”

We both watched the pasta bowl. “You know you can't just leave standing water out all day.” Alex added.

“I know. I'll have to change so it doesn't become a mosquito hatchery.”

Alex just nodded.

A robin landed on our railing, looking over at the bowl.

“Oh, I think we might have our first customer.” I whispered rubbing my hands together.

Alex jumped up, startling the robin so that it flew off.

“Hey!” I cried. “Why'd you do that?”

“Now we both win!” Alex went over to the bowl, dumped the water out and tucked the bowl under his arm. “You're experiment's complete.” He began walking towards the kitchen door. “Now you can go out and get your bird bath and I can still eat pasta out of this bowl!”

PHONE AFFLICTION

My husband Steven and I were both in our living room, each of us quietly scrolling through our phones.

“I just sent you an e-mail of a link I thought you'd like to read.” Steven said as he continued scrolling.

“Oh!” I clicked on my e-mail. “What's it about?”

“Read the link.” Steven repeated.

“But you're sitting right here! Can't you just tell me?” I was feeling a little annoyed.

“It's a pretty long article.” He looked up from his phone. “I'm in the middle of answering an e-mail from one of my clients.”

I began reading the article, which was about an app that tracked the amount of time you spent on your phone. It was written about the president of Apple who had decided to put it on the next upgrade for the phone. But before he released the upgrade he decided to use it himself and was shocked at the hours, per day, that he was on his device.

I looked over at Steven shaking my head. “How could he be shocked? We all live on our phones! Between messages, e-mail, Facebook, Goggling things, and playing Solitaire I wouldn't be shocked if the app told me I'm on my phone 8 hours a day!”

“I've got you beat!” Steven had paused his texting and looked over at me. “I bet I'm on my phone a good 10 hours a day with work!”

Just then Alex walked into the room, catching the last part of Steven sentence. “What do you do 10 hours a day?”

“I'm on my phone at least that much every day!” Steven answered.

“That's unbelievable!” Alex stood there shaking his head. “You two spend way too much time on your phone's.”

“Apple is going to tell you exactly how much time you spend on your phone.” I looked over at Alex. “It's just not our phone's they can track. They can also track how much time you're on any device.” I had to smile. “Like how much time you're on your computer.”

“That's not fair.” Alex objected. “I work on my computer.”

“Well, I work on my phone.” Steven added.

They both looked at me. “Well, I sometimes work on my phone.” I shrugged my shoulders. “A little.”

They both started to laugh.

“Wait a minute!” I cried. “I have an idea!” I looked at both of them. “Why don't we try not to be on our phone's at dinner tonight?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “That's a easy one for me.”

“Me too!” I agreed, then looked over at Steven.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Sure. I'll give it a try.”

A short time later, dinner was on the table and we were all sitting down. It didn't take long for Steven's phone to chirp that he'd gotten a text. He glanced at his phone, than over to me. “So, how was your day?”

I had to smile. “Pretty good...” I was ready to tell a story that had happened at work when Steven's phone chirped again.

He glanced down then back at me. “That's nice.” His phone chirped a third time. “I'm sorry, but I really have to take this.” He picked up the phone and got up from the table. “There's a problem at one of my job sites and it has to be dealt with right now.”

“Fine.” I sighed.

I could hear my phone ringing from the other room. “It can go to voice mail.” I said as I looked over at Alex. “So, how was your day?”

“Pretty good.” he was about to continue when my phone started to ring again.

“Hum, two times right in a row. I'm not going to answer it.” I said as I got up from the table. “I just want to check to see who it is.”

“Sure.” Alex called. “That was a fun experiment.”

“Okay, I admit it!” I cried. “Your Dad and I are addicted to our phones!”

Alex just nodded his head. “The first step is knowing you have a problem.”

WHO CARES? I DO!

“I'm so embarrassed!” I cried as I came into the house and tossed the bag with my new shoes on the chair.

Steven came out of our bedroom. “What happened?”

“I ran into someone I haven't seen in a while looking like this!” I swept my hand up and down my torso. “Ripped jeans that are clearly not a fashion statement but just a hole worn at the knee! A tee shirt that I'm probably going to be sleeping in tonight, if I don't spill anything on it at dinner! A sweatshirt that's missing the little toggle thingy that zips it up! Glasses, not contacts, no make-up, and because it's rainy out my hair's frizzed out like a clown!”

“Oh, come on. You don't look that bad.” Steven went back into our bedroom, while I followed him. I'd caught him in the middle of cleaning out his closet.

“Thanks. But I know you're just being nice” I grumbled. I sat down on the bed watching him look through his shirts.

“Hey, I've seen your hair twice that size when it's really humid out.” Steven smiled, but I wasn't in the mood for joking around.

“It was so embarrassing.” I just shook my head. “There I was bending over trying to get a shoe on when I hear my name being called. I look up, my hair's in my face and there she is, looking all put together while I look like this!”

“I'm sure she didn't notice.” Steven pulled some shirts out of his closet and tossed them on the bed.”

“Oh, she noticed!” I sighed. “Women judge each other. It's what we do. I could see it in her eyes as I was apologizing for looking the way I do.”

“You apologized?” Steven looked confused.

“Of course I did. I didn't want her to think I always go around looking like this! I was hoping to counteract the judging!”

“Did it work?” He began going through his sock drawer tossing the older socks on the floor next to the garbage bag.

“It was too late. She judged me.” I laid back on the bed and threw my arm across my eyes. “It got even worse when I broke out in the sweat! I had to keep mopping my upper lip with my sleeve.” I couldn't help but groan.

“Why'd you go out dressed like that if it's bothering you so much?”

“Because I dressed for a home day. I wasn't planning on going anywhere. But then I remembered I needed shoes for that dress I'm wearing next weekend and I just ran out not thinking.”

“Well, there's a valuable lesson in there somewhere.”

I sat up on the bed. “A valuable lesson?”

“Never leave the house without looking in the mirror and thinking someone out there will be judging you.”

“Says the man with a stain on the front of his sweatshirt.”

Steven looked down. “Oh I had soup for lunch. I must have spilled some.” He continued sorting out his clothes.

“Aren't you going to change?”

“Nope. I'm not planning on going anywhere.” He looked over at me and smiled. “But if I do I'll look in the mirror before I go.”

“You're a funny man, Steven. A funny man.” I said as I laid back down on the bed.

CHIPMUNK CHATTER

“Look how cute they are!” I was sitting on our back porch with my son, Alex as we watched two chipmunks tumble around in a patch of clover.

“You can hear them squeaking at each other.” Alex laughed. One of the chipmunks had broken free from the tumble and raced towards the woods, the other followed closely behind.

“I wonder if they're playing or really mad at each other?” I could see them still chasing each other in the underbrush of the woods.

“They didn't look like they were playing to me.” Alex said as we turned our attention to a cardinal and blue jay trying to get to the feeder at the same time.

“I say the bluejay wins this one.” I called but another cardinal swooped down and chased the bluejay into the oak tree on the other side of the yard. “Okay, I guess I was wrong on that one.”

Alex pointed to my bird house as a small bird flew out of it. “What's that?” Alex asked.

“It's a black capped chickadee!” I was feeling almost gleeful. “They've been working on the nest for a few days now!” We saw another one fly into the birdhouse carrying more nesting supplies. “I can't wait for the babies to arrive!”

Alex pointed to the small bunny hopping around around the clover patch nibbling on a clover flowers. “He doesn't seem to mind that were sitting right here, three feet away from him.”

“I know! I love it!”

A hummingbird zipped by us headed for the feeder. “I'm suppose to be doing errands right now, but I don't want to leave our yard.”

The chipmunks came running out of the woods, their cheeks stuffed with food. One ran right past us and into the hole that was next to our deck while the other one ran straight for the enclosure where we kept our garbage pails. “Well, we know one of them picked a really stinky spot for their home.”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe he's hoping something will fall out of the garbage pails and he won't have to travel too far to eat.”

“Yuck.” I shuttered at the thought.

We'd turned our attention back to the feeder where a red headed woodpecker was taking advantage of the fact that the cardinals had chased away the bluejay. “Isn't he beautiful! I don't see him at the feeder very often, he's usually picking the bugs from the trees.”

Alex thought for a moment. “I don't think I've ever seen him at the feeder before.”

“Well, that's because I spend more time out here than you do.” I looked at my watch. “Oh, man. I really should be getting my errands done.” I started to get up but another hummingbird was headed for the feeder. “Maybe just a few more minutes.” I said as I sat back down.

“You're not going to do your errands today, are you?” Alex had to laugh.

“Maybe I'll get them done tomorrow.”

My husband, Steven came out on the porch. “What are you two up to?”

“There's so much going on out here that I just can't talk myself into leaving.” I sighed. “Right now I feel like I could hold my pointer finger up in the air and a butterfly would land on it.”

Alex started to laugh.

“I'm serious!” I cried.

“I know that's what scares me.” Alex got up and gave me a kiss on the top of the head before he went in.

Steven sat down next to me and patted me on the knee. “You know if anyone in this family could get a butterfly to land on their finger it would be you.”

“Aw, thanks.” I pointed to the chipmunks as they chased each other through the clover. “I'm warning you, once you start watching them you won't be able to stop.”

FOREST BATHING

I heard my husband, Steven in the kitchen so I got up off the couch and hurried in to meet him. “I've got a new thing!” I cried, holding out that days newspaper.

Steven sighed, “Oh no. Does this involve me?”

“Yup!” I couldn't help but smile. “The next nice day we're going Forest Bathing!”

“What?” Steven just shook his head.

“Aren't you going to ask me what Forest Bathing is?” I leaned against the counter waiting for him to ask.

“Nope, I already know.” He smiled at me as he filled his cup with coffee.

“Oh come on!” I waved the newspaper in front of him. “I got the paper from the driveway! You didn't have time to read the article!”

Steven smiled as he poured some cream into his cup. “I read the paper online this morning.” He went into the living room and sat on the couch. “I also think I'll keep calling it a walk in the woods.” He leaned back and put his feet up on the coffee table before taking another sip from his coffee cup.

“Well, I looked it up.” I sat next to him and scooped my phone off the coffee table. “I goggled it and believe it or not it's a real thing.”

“Oh, I believe you, but I still prefer to call it a walk.”

“But that's where you're wrong!” I cried. I began reading from my phone. “It says here that hiking is about the destination, but Forest Bathing is about an immersion of the senses into the natural world!” I looked over at Steven. “Doesn't that sound better then a hike?”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “I'm all about the destination.”

I had to laugh. “Well, I used to be about that, too!” I looked back at my phone. “But maybe they have something here.” I began scrolling through the different articles. “This one says it was developed in Japan in the '80's. It's the healing way of Shinrin-yoku or Forest Therapy. You go into the forest and take in your surroundings with all your senses.” I looked back at Steven who still didn't look impressed. So I kept scrolling. “They've already proven that it helps you relax, reduces stress and boosts your immune system!” I looked over at Steven. “Doesn't that sound great?”

“Walking in the woods does that for me anyway.” He took another sip of coffee. “I'm fine with that.”

“I wonder if anyone near us is doing it?” I began typing in my question. “Oh...that's too bad.” I looked back at Steven. “They don't have any clubs doing it yet.” I kept scrolling. “Oh wait! Here's someone that wants people to join a group she's starting!” I looked back at Steven. “She could teach us how it's done!”

Steven laughed. “Didn't you just say it's all about being in the woods and using all your senses?”

“Yeah...” I wasn't sure where he was going.

“Well, don't we already do that?”

“Maybe, but what if we aren’t doing it right?”

Steven took a deep breath. “You see the trees, you smell the trees, you hear the trees. Heck I've even felt a tree.” He started to laugh. “The only sense we're missing is taste. So the next time we're in the woods you just have to lick the tree and you're all set.”

I had to laugh. “Why do you insist on ruining these things for me!” I put the phone down on the couch.

He patted me on the shoulder before he got up. “Don't worry, I'm just here to stop you from doing silly things in the forest.” I heard him put his cup in the dishwasher before he called out to me.“You're welcome!”