March 18, 2019 - When Deacon Harris Minton of Hemphill, Texas told me he wanted to show me “how I stay sane”, we drove outside town to an old barn with six cows standing nearby. After feeding the cows, we sat, watched, and talked small talk. “Well, how do you stay sane”, I asked. “By doing what we’re doing….watching the cows”, he laughed. “Doctor Winslow told me I’d save money on medicine this way.” As I thought about Harris the other day, I told Pam, “That’s what we enjoy doing..…except we watch birds instead of cows.”
For several years, we have travelled over most of the U.S. to photograph beautiful places and things…and especially unusual birds. It took us a while to discover we were living in the State where the country’s largest abundance of wildlife and birds were….our wonderful State of Texas. So Pam and I built a special bird fence on the north side of our house…with logs and perching places…and a special “bird watching window” inside to watch and photograph them (incognito). We have fed and photographed our birds for twenty-six years now where they faithfully visit us on their yearly migrations and some stay here all year long.
And our bird window brings us an extra joy every year. When our twin granddaughters visit, they run into the house, hurriedly hug our necks and ask, “Meme, can we feed the birds?” Then racing to the “bird-watching window”, whisper the names the ones they can identify. After the girls had gone home last week, we were watching from the window and Pam sighed, “Is there anything more fun than watching the birds?” “Just one thing”, I replied.
“Watching the girls watch them.”
