Since my robin note cards are making the rounds this Spring, I'm posting some of the musings these paintings have inspired in me. I can't see a robin without thinking of the cheeky lil' beggar in The Secret Garden. Enjoy!
Behind the Wall - original watercolor
“And delight reigned. They drew the chair under the plum-tree, which was snow-white with blossoms and musical with bees. It was like a king's canopy, a fairy king's. There were flowering cherry-trees near and apple-trees whose buds were pink and white, and here and there one had burst open wide. Between the blossoming branches of the canopy bits of blue sky looked down like wonderful eyes.
Mary and Dickon worked a litle here and there and Colin watched them. They brought him things to look at--buds which were opening, buds which were tight closed, bits of twig whose leaves were just showing green, the feather of a woodpecker which had dropped on the grass, the empty shell of some bird early hatched. Dickon pushed the chair slowly round and round the garden, stopping every other moment to let him look at wonders springing out of the earth or trailing down from trees. It was like being taken in state round the country of a magic king and queen and shown all the mysterious riches it contained.
"I wonder if we shall see the robin?" said Colin.” (From Chapter 21 of The Secret Garden by F. H. Burnett)
Canada Geese in view.
I wonder the same thing each morning as I open my blinds. I wonder if I will see the robin, hopping about looking for worms, or the two Mallard ducks who sometimes work their way along the golf course looking for breakfast, or the five Canada Geese who flew in and landed on the ‘green,’ disrupting the putts of some ladies last week. Right now, I can hear a symphony of animal life. It is evening, and the crickets and tree frogs are singing in the ravine, interrupted only momentarily if someone is walking a dog nearby. There is so much to see when we look expectantly outdoors. I must keep those binoculars handy.