greetings show&TELL! this time of the year is always a welcome thing in the upper area of minnesota that we reside. it IS still winter...but then we get those days that the sun is shining...the temps are comfortable {30's....yes that's comfortable to us}....and there are more sightings of little songbirds slowly making tracks back to the area.
and this year poses an entirely new thought of those migrating birds. yep. those of you who have been with me awhile know where this is heading. MJ. i've spent the entire winter looking at snapshots {like the 1 below} on occasion. laughing + recounting stories w/ hubby. keeping her spirit alive & with us.
then...there i was out & about not so long ago. when i spotted a book...a play rather, in hardcover review...titled...WHY A DUCK? made me smile and think "oh so many reasons why....". and if mere simply for the smile it might provide you all....i put together a quick collage of some of my favorite MJ moments. {shown below}
if you're newer to my world...MJ is a wood duck i found as a baby...not likely more than a day old. what started as the thought of "what in the world am i going to do w/ this baby duck??"....turned into a whirlwind summer w/ me growing very attached to my little feathered "girl". suddenly i was the protective mama duck. {you'll see me walking w/ her as my shadow below} with so many stories surrounding her i don't think i could find a spot to begin....right now anyway.
so i digress. but i will say there are parts of me hopeful. cautiously hopeful...that she is out there. alive & well. it's one of those unknown things that we are left only to imagine. that she's enjoyed a winter in an area of the country a wee bit warmer than ours. AND the thought that maybe. JUST maybe....she will return.
i don't want to be expecting her for sure. i can't set myself up for disappointment. it's a very BIG world & maybe the odds are not in her favor coming from a human rearing....then w/ her taking it upon herself, instinctively, returning to the wild. i won't dwell on the what might have happened as i just don't know. and i may never know. but one thing i do plan on doing is installing the specially built wood duck next box @ her pond.
so we will be trekking to her pond here in the near future. and installing this nest box. so we are prepared. just incase. because...again...you just NEVER know.
one of my favorite memories of MJ was the day i was "guarding" her on the opening of duck hunting. and she shimmied up my arm and perched on my shoulder like a parrot. i will never forget that. and it would be hard to considering the "mark" she made on the fabric sleeve.
she made more than one mark. she has touched our lives and will live on in our memory - forever. in so many ways. and the neat thing, i must say....is that she touched some of you too~! i've had some wonderful emails where MJ is the subject matter. i have had more than one person stop me and mention how cool the MJ chronicles were. which make me SMILE. knowing that she has not only entertained me...but also some of you...is priceless.
thanks for sharing my recount of this special feathered friend of ours. you never know. the story may continue. and if not...it's always fun to reminisce from time to time. which leaves me wondering...why NOT a duck?! there isn't one thing i'd change about the experience. well...maybe a little litterbox training in hindsight could have proved useful!
take time to enjoy the little things...
