Happy Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year

I saw this beauty on a tree in the backyard. I wonder what it was eating. It took quite a while to eat that -- whatever it was holding in between its paws. I'm linking with Nature Notes and Our World Tuesday.

And then this thief. She or He is an expert acrobat, swings upside-down to grab sunflower-seeds from the bird-feeder and eat. It's sad to see how hard they work to get all their food; and, all we do is destroy whatever little food-source they might have.

I first saw this poem in Michelle's Blog. It resonates with me so much that I decided to steal it from her blog and put in my blog as well. With this poem, I wish all of you a Happy Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year. May the forces of this wide universe, inspiring nature, majestic animals and calming gardens be with all of us.
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
By Poet and Environmentalist Wendell Berry