Spirit of the River

Today, I would like to share some pigeon photos with you. I hope you will enjoy them. You might notice that some pigeons appear again and again - but that's because they are really special birds! The most special one - Lucy (named after Lucy Lawless because she's such a fighter) Has no name yet because I'm not sure yet whether it is a he or she. Two racing pigeons on the loft's landing board Lucy again! Strider Young race birds taking a bath The pigeon named seagull - you will notice him in some other photos as well! Seagull (that's the pigeon's name) Seagull resting Seagull cleaning himself A pretty one Yay, exciting, let's get into the water!

How we start a day is usually very important for how our day will go - but what gets us going in the mornings? How do you feel when you wake up? Are you full of energy and looking forward to the day or does it take you a while to become motivated? Do you have any rituals?  I am not just asking because I would like to write about how my mornings go - I would like to know how other people get started and whether the people who wake up with a good mood and are full of energy have some kind of secret (apart from very good coffee!). So if you are one of the people who always look forward to every single day: How do you do it? What do you do if you wake up with a bad mood or a mood in which you think: "I don't want to get up! I just want to sleep forever and not deal with anything at all." 

I am sure that there are many people out there who are very good at giving advice and helping other people - but how about the other way around? How good are those people at receiving help, maybe even asking for it? I found that it is often the people who help others a lot who are the people that are actually hurt the most and would need a lot of attention - however, they never really dare to ask for it. What is it like in your life? Are you someone who gives great advice to other people but then can't follow that advice herself/himself? What do you do when you need advice but there is no one to talk to about your problem?

"You've got to take me with you - teach me everything you know." This is one of the lines in the first episode of Xena. Spoken by Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) to Xena (Lucy Lawless). The rest is history - and a beloved story for many people. Not only in Xena but in many other movies and series I like, the main story lines are often about learning something from other people: be it a skill, be it knowledge or be it the ability to truly love someone. Since I was a child, I had always hoped that I would live a story like in one of the movies, e.g. that a wise Japanese master would turn up in my life, that Michael Jackson would walk around the corner, that someone like one of the Star Trek captains Picard and Janeway would turn up or that someone like Xena would come into my life. I was hoping for someone to be my guide, my teacher - my hope and my rescuer. Now that I am 29, I know that things like that only happen in movies - and when they happen, they do not happen to p...

Songs that fit my life and songs I love As I am listening to music tonight, I thought I would share some of my favourites with you - some of the songs I feel connected to (and I keep it Michael Jackson free because most of his songs have a connection to my life in one way or the other). The Rasmus - Not like the other girls Every time I hear this song, I feel like it has been written for me because it is about a girl "who lives in the clouds and talks to the birds" and who also is "hopeless" and someone "the world has forsaken". It's a very nice song, sung by my favourite band "The Rasmus". They are a Finnish rock band and have some fantastic songs. So far, I have not heard one song of theirs that I did not like. Apart from the one that is linked here, I also like "Ten Black Roses" very much. Hikari Utada - Colors Most of you won't be able to understand the lyrics of this Japanese song but it is a very beautiful...

Merry did not make it - this morning, I found the young pigeon lying in it's nest: dead. I buried it in the afternoon, after I actually did not want to see it ever again. It was a hard day because that bird has meant a lot to me - even though for other people it will be "just a bird". Injured/sick/orphaned birds I took in my care: 3 Birds that survived: 0.....

Yesterday was a day that started out well and I hoped this would be the first day in a while that would go by without any sadness - I guess, I was wrong. Do you remember one of my latest entries in which I said I would never take care of a bird again after the Pukeko died? I was actually quite serious about this - after all, my care only seems to kill the birds instead of doing them anything good. Yesterday, when I went to one of the pigeon lofts to feed some of the bird of my friend, I noticed that one of the little baby pigeons was missing. It had been a problem case before and my friend had to hand-feed it because the parents did not do a good job. When I went in last afternoon, only the bigger of the two babies was in the nest and my first thought was: "Oh no, he has killed it without saying a word!" But then I knew that my friend would not just kill that one and he had not been down in that loft since the morning. So I started searching for it and finally found the lit...

I thought that after over a month in a new place, it would be time to have a look at how my life has changed. One thing is already obvious: I am a lot busier than in Whanganui and life is not as easy. You might remember: in Whanganui, I used to get up reasonably early, did some writing work and also went to my courses at UCOL. I was busy but organized. In the evenings, I played computer games, read books or watched DVDs. It was not a perfect life but it was fairly easy. If I tell you that by now I still have not finished watching season 6 and 7 of my Voyager DVDs, you might already see that things are very different now! Yes, that comes from the person who was worried about running out of Voyager episodes too quickly! I also have not watched a single episode of Xena and did not play Skyrim! So what does my life look like now? How do I survive without games, Star Trek and Xena? An average weekday I try to get up as early as possible in the mornings, usually some time between 6 an...

For those of you who did not know this yet, I also have a more creative blog at  http://artist-wairua.blogspot.co.nz/  I do not post there very often because much of my creative stuff is hand-written and I did not get into typing it all up yet. But you might want to have a look.

Lucy After almost a month up here, it is time for a short entry about pigeons - a longer one will follow sooner or later. I have spent many hours with simply watching the birds and as you might know from previous entries: I learn a lot by simply watching birds. Going to the pigeon lofts also give me the peace and quiet I would not be able to find in other places. They give me a sense of peace when the rest of the world seems to be filled with chaos and negative energy. There's no need to explain to them why I would just like to sit with them, not saying a word. In a way, they are far more accepting than human beings - as most animals are! Sometimes I think that they understand more than people would expect. It's some kind of universal language and I'm sure they feel that I'm someone who means them no harm. I spend most of my pigeon watching time in the loft in which my little problem pigeon called Lucy (Lawless) is because she's precious to me and also comes u...

Gaby sleeping in my hand just a week ago The Pukeko did not make it. May it rest in peace and maybe it's lucky and is part of Michael's heavenly zoo.  He would have loved the bird.

Unfortunately, the Pukeko is not doing very well at the moment. Yesterday, I was sure he would die and I felt like I was the murderer - yes, people tell me not to blame myself, but who else would there be to blame? The bird came to me and I'm just not good at taking care of birds. I'm a bird watcher, not a bird care-taker. Thanks to my friend, the bird made it through the night - but he's still not eating (the bird, not the friend). Drinking lots of water with some good stuff in it - but the memory of Sam dying after he didn't eat for a whole day is still fresh in my memory. If that bird dies, I'll never take care of another bird again - I'm just killing them! Yesterday was a very hard day for me, emotionally - and I hate being emotional, esp. when there are other people around. I guess, it all just came together: the broken heart, the memory of dead Sam and the worries about the Pukeko. Right now, I wish I could just go into a forest and be alone -esp. in t...