SEASONS - WELCOMING SPRING INTO 2017

SEASONS – SPRING HAS SPRUNG

(Writing and photography by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Welcome to the first day of spring for 2017!  

Let’s turn a page into new and exciting things.  Let’s stop and look around and enjoy the newest scenery of our lives together.  

Don’t you love the fresh breath of air that each spring brings to the earth?  

I’ve always enjoyed that fresh, new aspect of the changing of the seasons from winter to spring. The privet is blooming and the pollen is flowing heavily through the air.  People are washing cars and dusting off their patio furniture and planting flowers in brightly colored pots.  Some places are carpeted with little pink petals and some walkways are lined with bright cheerful blooms that are popping their heads out to say hello to a new season.  

With the coming of spring one gets the feeling that everything can be fresh and new again.  I am so grateful that a season can do this to our attitudes.  This winter has been hard and full of political turmoil and critical national changes and more and more never-ending tragic news for days at a time.  I’m ready for a break from the constant bombardment of the negative facts of the ever-changing modern world and all of the harsh realities that sometimes go along with it.   

I love how spring seems to soften all the things around us.  It perks up people’s attitudes and even brings big wide smiles to their faces.    

How could you look at the changing landscape across America right now and frown?  The beautiful spacious skies are so blue and the amber fields of grain are turning a lovely shade of bright green.  The Great Artist Of Heaven has been busy!

Each spring brings its own form of loveliness  Everything everywhere stands up and speaks of hope, from the pretty new flowers to the cheerful colors of the blossoming fruit trees.  There is a warm breeze blowing through that is taking away winter's chill and getting us all ready for vacations.  

Let’s get some happy renewals going on; let’s step into this spring with renewed vigor and anticipation.  Every spring brings new life and this is reason to celebrate and rejoice.

One way to celebrate spring's arrival is to stop and remember the things that we are most grateful for.  

Can you look back over memories of spring times in your life and think of things that make you smile?  I hope so.

I have some wonderful memories of growing up on a farm and watching the season of spring come to cheer up the land at the end of every brown bleak winter.  Chicks were popping their little heads out of eggs, and birds were busy building their nests.  Baby calves and foals were being born and the ground was being turned and prepared for fresh new crops with hopes for a bountiful harvesting season.  I loved the feelings of anticipation.  Children were anticipating school ending; adults were anticipating nice long summer nights and sweet family gatherings and vacations.  The houses always got their spring cleanings; and everything seemed to take on a whole new pure, clean, wholesome feeling of renewal.  At the farm we didn't throw things away when they were old and dingy; we cleaned them up and made them look new again.  There was always this great transformation going on every spring.

All of a sudden you begin to see this drastic change!   It is so noticeable.  The people notice, the animals notice, and the land notices.  They notice the renewal of the life process that has arrived again just like clockwork.  The Great Timekeeper has wound his watch again and spring has appeared everywhere.  Suddenly everyone and everything seems to be watching and paying attention with wide open eyes; as if they are all coming out of a long winter hibernation and just realizing that there is so much more life to be living.

The spring family gatherings we used to share at the farm were so wonderful!  I have so many vivid memories and even some cherished photos to remind me of how very blessed it was to be able to share those years of my life with my family on the farm. 

My Mom's tables were always so beautiful and her cooking was delicious.  The time we all shared was very well spent.   I'll bet you have some similar memories of things that have happened in the springs of your life.  Hold on to them and cherish them.  They are something to pull out of the corners of your mind when the world feels too fast and too busy and too overwhelming.  Just slow down and remember springs past.  It will change your day and your mood and make you feel grateful.   

As much as I enjoyed those old memories, I am also very grateful for the memories we are making in the present in our own home.  

We have food.  We have shelter.  We have what we need to gather together with family and friends and thank God for putting up with us and loving us so much to bless us with each other.  We have abundance of all that matters.

I’m especially thankful for the seasonal changes that spring brings to our humble little castle where love abounds.  Any home can be a castle if love lives there and its owners are paying attention to God’s ways.  A home doesn’t have to be a mansion to be a castle; it simply has to be loved.  

Our castle is going through the empty-nest years; but the funny thing about that is for some reason our family just keeps growing, and the house is very rarely ever empty!  We are so happy with our grown kids, their spouses and our grandchildren.  Each one of them has brought a different set of blessing into our days.  Spring brings yet another reason for being grateful and celebrating family.



It is nice to be grateful for our past memories of spring, and even nicer to be appreciative of the moment we are living in right now.  Then there is also the aspect of looking to the future springs that will yet take place.  We begin to feel the hope that the changing season brings and we start to do the little things that we do that make us who we are.  Families gather, friends gather, wonderful things are set in motion to come together in beautiful ways.  This is the beauty that spring brings to us.

Today I am sending up a fresh new prayer, that this new season for you is glorious and full of love and laughter and fun.  I pray that God will bless you all abundantly.  I hope the IN SEASON blog can always play a tiny part in your day and the celebration of your spring happiness.  Look forward to some fresh and exciting new articles this spring.  

May you have all the time you need in this new season to bring your thankful heart before God and give Him the praise that He deserves for leading us ever onward and forward in so many beautiful and seasonal ways.  God surely blessed us when He created the changing of the seasons.  Today I am deeply grateful as I watch the negatives turning into positives and I see how God has blessed our land.  

OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO - ALABAMA WILDLIFE CENTER

ALABAMA WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER

200 Terrace Drive

Pelham, Alabama  35124

(Writing and photography by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

My eight year old grandson just LOVES animals; especially turtles.  

He is fascinated with the way injured animals can be rescued and rehabilitated.  

He seems more interested in this subject than most kids; so for his last visit to our house; I decided to share The Alabama Wildlife Rehabilitation Center with him.  

I could not have picked a more wonderful thing!  He absolutely loved it! 

I had no idea that a place just a short distance from our home would provide him with so much fun and enjoyment.  The Alabama Wildlife Rehabilitation Center is located inside Oak Mountain State Park, which provides lots of amazing entertainment for people living in the area, as well as visitors from other parts of the country.

I had never been to this particular part of the park, so I really did not know what to expect.  I was pleasantly surprised and amazed at the discoveries we uncovered.  We followed the long wooded park road drive to the center, and as we drove I explained to him what we would be doing on the visit.  I didn’t see much reaction on his face at first; but I knew I had made the right decision when we arrived and he skipped out of the car and held both arms up high in a victory dance.  

He was so interested in everything that was going on there.  He took it all in with wide eyes, noting the information on the signs as we entered, and liking the rustic outdoorsy look of the building surrounded by beautiful and natural woodlands.  This was his kind of place!

Upon entering we could hear the sounds of birds singing and chirping “hello.”  

It seems that they receive over 1,800 birds from over 100 different species at this center.  They rehabilitate the injured and orphaned birds by providing them with food, shelter and medical care while they heal.  Of course the goal is for each of them to be able to return to the wild.

We arrived just before the morning feeding started.  We had to wait a bit; so we took in the curious books, pamphlets, stuffed animals and T-shirts in the lobby.  There were some very interesting items and I told him he could pick just one.  He very carefully chose a sweet little stuffed animal; a little wood owl.

As we were walking around looking through the glass walls at the birds who had found temporary homes in the shelter, a young girl approached us who worked there.  To our delight she had a miniature wood owl on her arm!  He was just adorable and Vinny actually got to touch him and gaze at him up close!  

 How cool was that!  We wondered around more and took in some of the nicely labeled and very informative exhibits, and looked through the glass walls to observe what was going on outdoors.

These people are really serious about their work.  They are open and working at this center every day of the year.  

The tables inside the building held lots of interesting information and great children's story books about birds and nature in general.  We got to go back to the feeding room and watch how they were feeding and caring for those birds who could not move around on their own.  

Later, we drove down the hill a bit to Terrace Drive and turned left.  We went past the park Headquarters on our right and made our way to the Wildlife Center's Treetop Nature Trail, on the left.  This was a wonderful 300 foot elevated boardwalk set among mature hardwoods in a stream-fed valley close to the lake.  There we visited with injured birds living in gigantic elevated cages.   These are the homes of the non-releasable birds of prey.  There were workers feeding the birds when we arrived.  They took time to chat with us and explain all the different species living in the large cages.  My grandson was glad to know that they still could live in the woods and have lots of room to try to fly if they wanted to.  I didn't have the camera with me for this leg of our journey, but I hope to go back to this awesome boardwalk again one day and get some great photos of the birds of prey and the boardwalk.  

At the beginning of the trail we saw two turkey vultures.  One had black feathers and one was an albino.  We immediately knew who they were because we had read about them.  We read that "Logan" the turkey vulture with the black feathers was found in 1997 near Hayden, Alabama.  He was suffering from wounds that impaired his ability to hunt for food.

We had also read about "Princess" the white albino turkey vulture who was brought into the center emaciated and starving in 1994.  

These two had to leave their home in the Oak Mountain forest for a brief period of time once as the extensive repairs and renovations were made to the Treetop Nature Trail.  Now they have completely remodeled new homes!  Their remodeling happened because of a partnership between the Shelby County government and the State's Department of Construction and Natural Resources.  The Alabama Wildlife Center is partnering with many community leaders, groups and organizations and corporations in order to accomplish continued support for making the Wildlife Center the best ever.  They provide a very important public outreach to our community and all of those living in the area are appreciative of their constant efforts and hard work.  

After viewing the vultures we saw some red tailed hawks, some great horned owls, barn owls and barred owls.  All of these birds have names now, which the public has helped to recommend.  You can make suggestions for names of any new birds by visiting The Alabama Wildlife Center facebook page or going to their website at www.awrc.org.

As we were leaving my grandson waved goodbye to the dedicated workers and thanked them for helping all the birds.  They smiled grateful smiles.  Without their hard work none of these birds would have survived in the wild.    

I highly recommend this great part of Oak Mountain State Park.  Any age would love visiting; it is interesting and informative.  We certainly had a great time there!