A thought for your day, with my good wishes – and also a bit of inspiration from a young artist, 16-year-old Erin Forestell. She and her mother thought it a shame that, in the midst of this pandemic, the official arrival of Spring last week seemed to go unnoticed.

Erin’s mum, a friend of mine, sent me a photo of this chickadee Erin painted. My friend wrote,  “… we took a copy round to all our neighbours with a nice message – thought you might like to see it as it brought a smile to my face. Spring is usually such a hopeful time.”

So, here’s to Spring. Here’s to being hopeful. Here’s to the chickadee and its indomitable spirit, and here’s to Erin!

We learned to be patient observers like the owl.

We learned cleverness from the crow,

and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory.

But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit.

– Tom Brown, Jr.