There is nothing I like better than springtime. In Louisiana we have two weeks that I call spring. The flowers that have been hidden during the cold weather peek up and welcome the sun.
After two weeks, the air-conditioner must come on and then it’s summer. But this week has been spring. Nice enough to sit outside on the patio and watch the squirrels scamper up the trees. We have so many trees in our back yard that those bushy tailed animals can travel from tree to tree to tree to cover the whole property.
The violets above are nestled in a corner of a pecan tree. The squirrels will grab a pecan from the ground and rush up the tree to eat it. One went up the tree about fifteen feet, turned around and was hanging upside down while eating. Then it turned around and went up a few more feet to eat in the crevice of the trunk and a branch.
I purchased this lovely glass bird feeder this year. It’s next to the pecan tree and when I refill it, I have to pick out the broken pecan shells that the squirrels have dropped into it from the branch above. I love the colors…they make me happy.
Julia Cameron in ‘The Artist’s Way’ wrote about ‘filling your creative well’…and this is the way I do it.
Sitting on the back patio, on a rocking chair watching the squirrels, listening to the bird songs, the hammering of the red-headed woodpecker that lives in the telephone pole across the street, birds that come to rest in one of the two bird feeders for a treat.
I’m not a bird watcher in any sense of the word, but have come to recognize three different types of doves. It’s peaceful. It’s nature. It reminds me that no matter what happens in life, nature will take care of it’s own. Life goes on.
It’s one of the perks of living in a small town.
What do you do to ‘fill your creative well?’
Authors of Main Street 
Pingback: The Creative Well by Pepper Phillips | Pepper Phillips
How nice to have a pecan tree!
I don’t know how my creative well gets filled. Usually I feel like I’m running on empty, then I manage to squeeze a little more out of it somehow.
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I enjoyed today’s post, and I can definitely relate to the short spring. When we lived in Beaumont, Texas (near the Texas-Louisiana border) we used to say that we had two seasons: cold and damp, and hot and humid. I’m pretty sure Louisiana is the same way! However, the azaleas that bloom at this time of year, as well as the long season for annual flowers in the summer, made up for the lack of seasons.
Long walks fill my creative well.
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I totally get the short spring. Here in Northern California we only have two seasons; wet and cold, hot and dry. LOL I refill the creative well by reading good books and watching good TV.
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Squirrel watching can be so funny! You chose a beautiful new bird feeder, the color certainly makes me happy also. Nature is one of the best ways to refill the well. Great post.
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Some days, it’s a trip to Starbucks to chat with friends. That feeds my need to be with people. Others, it’s really getting away from the house and doing something such as canoeing or taking a long drive. Mountains, beach, or rolling hills covered in crops, I like being with nature. It feeds my soul. But not far from the back door is the birdbath, the bird feeder hands on a Shepherd’s hook, and the pecan tree is in the neighbor’s yard. Apparently the squirrels like to bury the pecans in my yard. I wouldn’t mind if they uncovered them later, but they don’t. Do you know how hard baby pecan trees are to get out of the garden? I swear for every 12 inches that shows there is double that in a root! So when the squirrels aren’t planting pecan trees in my yard, I love watching them and the tiny Carolina wrens . I’ll take almost anything nature will give me.
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Our spring has been cold and wet so far, but the birds sing anyway and the daffodils are blooming along with the tulips. Hopefully it won’t frost now. The renewed light and longer days always enhance the creative well for me…maybe it’s all that rain 😀
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I do pretty much the same as you, Pepper. I like to sit on the back porch at our Hill Country home and watch the stars come out. It’s amazing how dark the night is in the country, and how bright the stars. If I’m in town, I like to sit on the bench by the lake and watch the water ripple, the ducks swim, and the trees sway in the breeze. Nature is the common denominator I guess.
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