My little friend Prudie is back in Kentucky, and though she is tiny she brings me great joy! What a comfort she is to me since my cat Petey has passed. I named her Prudie a few years ago after my maternal grandmother, Prudie Mudd. I just think that is a fine name, Prudie Mudd. Who knows, one day I may give a character in a book I am writing that name. :O) I think I recognize this special bird every year. All hummingbirds are small, but Prudie is extra small. I marvel that she has returned to Louisville from the Central America region and can fly over 1000 miles non-stop. I love her little humming, zip-zip sound she makes as she flies from Grandmother Tree to the feeder I have perched on the outdoor deck. I love to watch her fly backwards. Simply put, I love her and her amazing ways.

I have been wondering why she gives me so much comfort. I think about this life we live, how things really are changing every minute. In fact, change is a guarantee, one can count on it. I come to the conclusion that’s it about Prudie. As long as she is alive and well I can count on her returning. So on my prayer walk today I started to think about other things I can count on in this life. Simple things, like how baby deer are always present out in the fields in the month of May. I saw a mama duck leading her baby ducklings on the side of the road the other day, because baby ducklings always follow the mama duck. My orange tiger lilies and white anemones flowers are blooming, just like last year. The clover field a short distance from Our Treehouse was cut down two days ago, and once again I smell that sweet smell of clover grass drying in the sun. Isn’t that just like Mother Nature, offering me solace and stability when something big has changed in my life?

My wise daughter Jano texted me a coupe of days ago, checking on me. She had written, “Different feeling in the house I am sure. Normalcy will come…”. I tell that to Reddogg because I know he feels it too.

I had a pile of wood brush I needed to burn from all the broken tree limbs in the yard from recent storms. I decided this morning was the perfect time. I had arrived back home after my early morning yoga class and it was cool and brisk outside. Beautiful weather here in Louisville! I walked out to the end of the property where my brush pile is and here comes Pan, my outdoor cat. He followed me, watching me with his gold-green feline eyes as I started the fire. I had buried Petey just a short distance away, under a shade tree and close to the pond. This past Wednesday I placed a concrete memorial bench over the fresh mound of dirt and it looked just right. So inviting and so very Petey who always wanted me to sit down so he could sit in my lap. After burning a few old, grey branches I glanced over at Petey’s bench and did a double take, then standing up straight with the long handle of my shovel under my chin, I could not help but smile. There is Pan, lying on the bench, a long haired brown and cream colored cat, looking so majestic, like the whole world belonged to him. I thought of a little, black cat who had owned this part of the world, and now look at Pan…Yes, normalcy will come.

c   Love, Joan