I awoke to tiny pink clouds scudding eastward; soon they obliterated the sun and the sky became a very November overcast gray. There is most certainly a storm coming.
We are settling into the new house. Fewer boxes block our way and some rooms have attained a state approaching order. We are almost at the point where photos and art can go on the walls, a certain step towards a sense of home.
Here in the studio things have slowly found places. Paradoxically we have more space and less storage so the task of organizing is more difficult. Being artists, we are also, almost necessarily, hoarders. We let go of a lot of old work before the move, along with a few of the objects that lie around and make a studio a studio; there remains much that needs a home.
Above is the view from one set of studio windows. We have a proclivity for wanting nature to come into our space, sans the cold and wet. Yesterday, as I was working, birds came to the windows and peered intently in. I wonder what drew them so insistently. Perhaps our clock that gives familiar bird song on the hour? One of the visitor was a tufted titmouse, one of my favorite species!
There are good reasons many peoples say the spirits may come to us as birds, and that to feed the birds is to feed the spirits and Ancestors. As the cold settles in, and we begin feeding the birds, the Ancestors seem particularly close. Today I am reminded that the Ancestors and spirits are present, and active in our lives, whether we acknowledge them or not. They have their needs and desires, and when those hungers are unmet, much ill may result. In our current epoch, an era without history, surely there are many hungry beings in the spirit realms.
It is good to take a moment, put some food out for the wild ones, and acknowledge our debt to the spirits, and to those who generations ago began the process of Dreaming us into being.
Dreaming the World 
Good to hear, that you are finding yourself in your new house, Michael.
I do remember to get more space and then couldn’t find out to use it for good and to keep a better order, even if this would be better in many ways.
I like your idea about nature outside the house and your thoughts with the birds.
Wish you all the best.
Birds visit is such a good sign! So happy you are settling in.
Lara, the folks who owned the house before us fed them so I imagine the birds expect good treatment. We are rewarded with their company. Of course, the squirrels have found us as well….. LOL!
LOL – we name our squirrels. We had Howard and his wife Denise and now it’s their descendants – I have no clue if they even had babies but it’s very likely. Ah, it’s fun to watch them – and quite calming.
I can’t tell the squirrels apart!
A timely post-only this day I have said to my wife it’s time to start feeding the birds again (I do it every year through the autumn and winter months), and also it is the sixteenth anniversary of my father’s passing.
Andy, we find we benefit from feeding the birds. I hope it helps the feathered ones as well, perhaps mitigating some of the problems caused by habitat loss.
My dad has been dead about thirteen years and I still miss him, even as I acknowledge that our relationship was complex. He passed in mid-summer; I imagine fall anniversaries must be harder.
I have a lot of anniversaries around this time. I was speaking to a friend who is an Anglican priest, about how so many of the elderly die in winter in the lead up to Christmas. I asked if it was because of the cold weather and the many bugs and illnesses going around at this time, his reply was that he thought many just gave up. They had memories of past Christmas’, spent with family, and now reliving them alone.
Andy,
I imagine that it is a combination of things. Winter can be so hard on us as we age, eh. Certainly loneliness is a risk factor. I think some people wait til after the Holidays just to have another Christmas season with family.
Lovely view Michael. I like the moment when you can begin to decorate the walls of a house, but storage is always a problem!! The birds are welcoming you already, that seems like a good sign.
Andrea, That moments may be today!
Enjoy your decorating 🙂