Thursday Thirteen

1. The morning is an open arm waiting to embrace the day.

2. The leaves on the trees are coming out full speed; the grass is green, and the world is renewing.

3. Watching Spring reminds me why ancestors celebrated the end of winter and the coming of the new season. How can one not celebrate when the redbuds burst forth, and the dogwoods bloom?

4. My bird feeder is empty, as we stopped feeding the birds when the weather warmed, but still I see cardinals and red-bellied woodpeckers there, searching for a remaining seed. They need to eat nature's food now, though. I don't want fat birds!

5. Mick Jagger released a new video about being stuck in the pandemic. It's called Easy Sleazy. It's not a Rolling Stones song.

6. Speaking of pandemic, I am a week away from my second shot. Everyone tells me that once you're fully vaccinated, the anxiety lessens when you're out and about. I hope that turns out to be true in my case.

7. I had little reaction to the first shot, and am hoping for the same with the second. Fingers crossed!

8. Crossing your fingers for luck is a superstition, apparently one that comes from pre-Christianity. It isn't a common gesture in areas where there are Muslim, Buddhist, or other religions.

9. Do you believe in UFOs? That can be a religion, believing in things like that. Government can be a religion, too. Me, I soak it all in like a sponge. Some stays, some goes, most I forget.

10. Honoring the Earth Spirit seems to me to be the best part of any religion. Too bad we don't do that often enough anymore. Imagine if we simply thought of our planet as our home, and tried to keep her as neat and clean as we could. I'd sure like to see the end of industrial pollution.

11. My desk is polluted with papers. I need a clean-up day. I don't know where this stuff comes from, but it sure collects even though I'm not actively writing anything much at the moment.

12. Reading has become my go-to of late. Lots of books that aren't literature. Life is too hard for literature right now. These times call for Janet Evanovich.

13. I have a sign on my wall from a card. It says, "No one can stop you but yourself" - Liam Linisong. A friend sent me the card last fall. I don't think that's totally true - there are many things that stand in the way of people's lives - money, racism, misogyny, etc. Things do get in the way. Finding another course is not always easy. Some days the doors are all shut. Occasionally, one opens a crack. Looking for cracks right now.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 702nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.