I saw a large blue jay in the tree outside my window this morning. Today is a chilly day in January. It is a sign of spring.

I am always delighted to see birds in that tree--it is dead and full of bugs and stuff.

When I was a kid I don't remember seeing any blue jays, robins or cardinals, just those little brown birds and some huge black ones.

They must have been there, I just didn't notice.

I think it may have to do with getting older. As we age, if we are lucky, we take time to look at the world around us, and take nothing for granted.

I remember my great-grand aunt always remarked on the stages of the moon: a new moon, a first quarter, a full moon, a last quarter. I was very young and I couldn't understand why she thought the moon's shape was important.

She lived during a gentler time when people had time to smell the roses. They didn't have television or the Internet to distract them.

Just a thought on a snowy day in January.