Love is in the Air

It’s February in the South. Spring has sprung and love is definitely in the air. Papa God apparently wanted to make that very clear, so He hung this heart among the clouds on my morning prayer walk.

Yep, signs of spring are all around me … the new bumper crop of baby squirrels leaving their nests for the first time, learning to climb trees, dig treasure holes to bury acorns that they’ll never re-find, and repeated attempts to fly in gravity’s startled face from tree branch to tree branch high overhead.

I must say, the little fellas are surprisingly resilient; no less than three of them have fallen at my feet – THUD – during the past week, when gravity won the game (one on a street just inches from my shoe – Yikes!, one on packed dirt – Ouch!, and one on soft grass – could have sworn I heard him yell whee!). Yet all three hopped up, shook their dazed little furry heads, took a deep breath, and scurried back up the tree to try, try again.

Say, betcha didn’t know falling squirrels injure more people in Florida than angry alligators, didja? (Don’t cancel  your Disney trip; I made that up.)

Back to love in the air.

So while all that’s going on terrestrially, our avian friends are deep into amore this time of year. I watched a pair of smitten cardinals fly a love dance with each other in and around our split leaf philodendron, and then a Pileated Woodpecker couple flew by, flirting and weaving and making woo-woo eyes at each other.

If you’ve never seen one of those rather rare enormous woodpeckers, you should look them up – they’re simply gorgeous with their bright red fringed bonnets with white bonnet strings perched atop their large black-feathered bodies. We are very fortunate that they like our backyard. However, they’re quite camera shy so this is as close as I could get.

But the Dating Game wasn’t over yet! The screech of a hawk drew my attention to a light pole in the cul-de-sac, where a single hawk (I’m assuming female here because I remember single me screeching a lot like this) lamented her lovelornness. I’m pretty sure she was wailing, “Why oh why won’t somebody love me? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with men?”

Within minutes, a larger hawk flew over to join her. But alas, Ladyhawk took one look at him, squawked her annoyance, and flew away to a nearby tree. (Did she have her eye on a different fella?)

Not to be deterred, Hawkman flapped right on over to a nearby branch in the same tree to presumably offer her a cheeseburger and fries. She screamed at him a little more (maybe she was hoping for a steak and baked potato?), then turned tail and soared right back to the light pole. Alone.  There she sat all by herself for a while. Looking miserable. Probably thinking she’d blown her last chance and beating herself up for it.

Until Mr. Persistence swallowed his pride and at last joined her.

Smart move, buddy. Must’ve made a good impression. Ladyhawk apparently had a change of heart, because she unabashedly hopped along the pole right over to sit beside him. And she quit screeching. I think she might’ve even winked.  Awww.

And that’s amore.

After watching Papa God’s creation celebrating spring and love, which somehow seem to fit together like shoes and socks (hey, is that why Cupid chose to put Valentine’s Day in Feb???), I feel all warm and fuzzy myself.

Whaddaya say, BBFF (Blessed Blog Friend Forever) – why don’t we each give our special someone’s a little love-peck  today? I think our fine feathered friends would agree that you can never say I Love You enough. 

 

*Congrats to Sharon Timmer, winner of my Fresh Start Giveaway grand prize including a lovely “Blessed” bracelet and my 365-day devo, the Too Blessed to be Stressed: Inspiration for Every Day gift set. (A little secret for my besties: a surprise announcement might just be around the corner regarding another beautiful book/journal gift set featuring my newest release, Too Blessed to be Stressed for Moms.)