L’Chaim!

To Life!  It’s spring and it’s busting out all over here in Cerritos.

 I saw a great performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” last night and while I was walking to the Donut Donut store (the real name of my donut place, but I only go there for coffee and Lotto tickets) the song “To Life” (or “L’Chaim”) was running through my mind.  That got me to thinking about spring and what I was seeing and hearing this morning.

Black Phoebe

Bushtit

The sunrise with many shades of pink and gray was gorgeous on this cloudy morning and I delighted in the multihued sky.  The birds were waking up and they were singing their greetings to each other and me.  Black phoebes were twitting their little chirp while darting from and to perches while catching little gnats.  Bushtits were flitting in their erratic flights through trees while twittering their calls to each other.  They like to pick bugs off leaves and sometimes hang upside down on twigs.  I get a kick out of these tiny birds because they remind me of Woodstock in “Peanuts” and how he flies in the comic strip.  The neighborhood Cooper’s hawk screamed his greeting while he was looking for breakfast. Later on this spring, his youngsters will harass the local crows as they practice do training hunting flights.  I’ve witnessed this event in past years with much humor as sometimes the feathers are turned and the crows chase the hawk.  It’s almost like a game between the two species.

Cooper’s Hawk

The usual house finches were out in force with their chatter.  I love when a flock is in a tree and they’re waking up.  It reminds me of a happy classroom with lots of cheery sounds.  Of course, crows were making their early morning caws to each other, trying to figure out who has some food to steal.  They’re such moochers.  Several ducks flew overhead quacking directions to each other.  We’ll soon see little ducklings being led by their mothers to water for their first swim.

Other signs of spring include much pollen falling from the pine trees that line some of our streets.  It is really apparent when a puddle on the sidewalk has dried up and there is a yellow tinge to the

Front Yard poppies

outline of where the puddle was.  Pollen is also very apparent as a pale yellow film on the surface of my pool.  Some of the other trees are beginning to make little white petals, which will soon drop and create a snowy cast to the street.  One neighbor has an ivy-covered wall that has ugly, bare, old, and dead looking vines during our winter.  It is beginning to leaf out and will soon be a lush green, belying the ugly wall.  My daffodils and freesias have come and gone but my California poppies are going crazy along with some other posies.   These poppies are on both sides of my driveway with the little Donate Life garden flag in the background flapping in the slight breeze.

Join Us at the Run Walk!

Speaking of Donate Life, tomorrow, April 1, beings Donate Life month and a celebration of inspiring and advancing donation and transplantation of organs and tissues through research, public education, and honoring donors whose legacies live on.  I will be working hard this month on a volunteer basis for the Donate Life Run/Walk that will be held at Cal State Fullerton on April 27.  At least 11,000 people will participate in this celebration of life.  L’Chaim to all of these participants and volunteers!

Mary Wu

Today seems like a good opportunity to give a  L’Chaim toast to Mary Wu, a fellow 2012 Rose Parade float rider, who celebrates  life every day.  If ever anyone knows what life means, it’s Mary who is a two-time kidney recipient.  She inspired me many times as I read portions of her blog where she recounted her inner thoughts of her life journey.  I’m the proud owner of her newly published  Confessions of a Kidney Transplant Recipient.  It’s a good read and is available at amazon.com

I’ve been traveling quite a bit during the last two months (as B.C., my ornery cat would attest and she lets me know every day as she begs for attention), and this morning seemed like a good time to sit back a minute or two to catch my breath, look at the world and cuddle B.C.  Life is good and I’m enjoying every minute of it (except when I have to clean up B.C.’s “mistakes” or what I would call getting back at me for not being available every two hours to lavish attention or feed her snacks.  That’s what happens when you have a possessive 19 year old feline)