A friend of ours recently went to the Floriade flower event in Canberra. It is a month long floral event, that has lots of beautiful flowers on display! She sent us some pictures that she had taken of the flowers, so that we could share in seeing the lovely flowers also ❤️

A few of them I have posted below.

The word : “ Floriade” sounds a very  melodious word! It is a gentle word, that seems to flow when it is said aloud . Flower petals are very delicate and fragile , and their beauty  brings so  much delight to all who look at them!  Life is very precious and  fragile also, but contains so much beauty in the “ everyday” blessings that we have day by day. May we take the time to “ Stop,  look,  and see” , the many blessings in  our day by day’s lives that we can be muchly thankful for!

Seeing this picture of a Birds Nest brought back many special memories of something that happened quite a few years ago. Dad was growing beans in our backyard. He had them growing on a trellis. One day, he went outside, and found that a bird had decided to make his nest in the middle of the beans! Perhaps the bird just wanted to introduce his little bird children to healthy vegetable eating from an early stage of their lives! It was very special “ peeking” at the nest when the bird wasn’t there and looking at the  eggs! Eventually, the extra special “ birth day”  arrived and the little birds are born! But then the mother bird disappeared and left the little birds as orphans! All of them except for one decided to test out their new flying abilities, and off they flew to explore their  exciting and adventure packed life in their new world! But the last little bird looked a little sickly and weak. He couldn’t fly! It wasn’t good when his attempt to fly landed him on the ground in the midst of the beans! Dad to the rescue! Dad tried not to touch the bird, so that human scent wasn’t on the little bird in case the mother bird returned, and was able to move him to a box where he put some water and even found wriggly worms! He put a protective bar screen over the top, to protect the little bird from danger. Not a good idea because the little bird got “ stuck” amidst the bars! Dad was able to fix that issue! A few days later, a very exciting and special thing occurred! The mother bird came back! Dad quickly removed the bar screen, and the mother bird “  chirped”  her thanks at Dad’s caring kindness of looking after her baby bird! She then assisted the little bird to start flying! 

A birds nest is a very comforting and warm place for a little bird to be. Our own homes are a very special place for us to live. It is not the furnishings of the home or the exterior design of the home that makes a house a home or is important in life. It is the special love  and care that is felt between family members as they support each other through all that life is holding for each of them, and as a family . Through happy times, sad times , exciting times, Ill health and times of pain

 ❤️

I think that the saying : “ an apple a day keeps the Doctor away” is a funny saying! I can just imagine a big basket of apples, and as a doctor is nearing someone, the apples jump up and form a shield wall to prevent him coming closer! Apples are very nice to eat! They are crunchy, juicy and tasty! It is quite amazing that a big apple tree can grow from a such a little apple seed! In the same way,  one little act done in love can cause a big encouraging help in the lives of another person! As we take bites of apples, may it encourage us to “ live a life of love” ! 

Spring flowers are very pretty! There are so many types  of flowers in the world! Each are so special! I send a bouquet of Spring flowers to everyone❤️. They are all sorts of colours and varieties. Yellow flowers to bring with them the warmth of a smile to cheer your heart.

Bluebells to ring out a joyful tune when you are happy and calm soothing music if in pain. The beauty of a pink flower to remind you that you are so special and and your inner beauty is so beautiful  to your loved ones,  A fragile little violet to say that each day is precious and special. They are tied with a love ribbon made up of hellos from me to you ❤️

I saw this very cute picture of the elephants and  straightaway I saved it to post as a part of my Chirpings! Even elephants like to give and receive flowers! I have read that elephants have an excellent memory skill.

They remember things very well. In our lives, what seems to us to be a small or simple gesture, or a little chat, or a kind  word, or a smile,or a caring act, or a listening ear, can live on in the hearts and minds of the receiver for a long time to encourage them and bring warmth ❤️

Hello to everyone reading this blog . All the below posts have been from Chirpings that I have written over the years. I decided to post some of them here. From now on, I will be writing new posts that I haven’t written before. I will keep “ chirping as a sparrow” here!

The sounds of early morning seem to differ every day! Shortly after I got up one morning last week, all I could hear was the very, very loud thumping down of torrential rain outside, accompanied by the "crashing" and banging" of the weekly rubbish truck van entering the court in which we live. It really was a huge amount of noise!! Then another morning, lots of magpies and other birds decided to unite together and form a "bird choir" to sing early morning tunes to us. The best sound of all is a "hello" and a "how are you going today?" loving enquiry from a family member or friend ANY time of the day. On other times, just being with other people speaks so much louder than an uttered word. May we enjoy all the sounds that we encounter through this coming week!!

Vacuums are very, very noisy machines!! They seem to make so much noise, and then when they are turned off everything seems extra extra quiet! It is good every day to have quiet times and noisy times all mixed together. May we take time to stop and reflect on all our blessings and be thankful for the love we receive and the love we are wonderfully able to give out.

And in the midst of the "noisiest" of our lives, take pleasure in all the delights that it can hold and know strength in the cares and challenges that these times can hold too.

We have some new "guests" to where we live. Their names are: Zachariah the zucchini, Beatrice the bean, and Taryn the tomato! Dad been growing the zucchinis and beans from seeds, and they have all of a sudden over this last week literally popped their heads up from out of the soil in the containers where Dad planted them, and shouted "Hello World!" . Dad is transplanting them now to our backyard garden, and has already planted some tomato plants. Dad has bought the Apollo and Mighty Red varieties of tommies so far this year. We now look forward to eating the vegies that will appear in a few months time!!

Springtime is a great time to plant seeds and seedlings, and watch them grow. But…anytime is a great time to show love and care to another. Zucchinis literally "explode" in size overnight, and for us to bring  a little bit of joy and support to someone really makes them "flourish" and keep blooming through life too!

The Melbourne Cup is being run this week. It is the "race that stops a nation" for 3 minutes! People all around the country (and sometimes Aussies around the world!) stop what they are doing to watch the tv, or listen to the radio, or actually watch it live at Flemington to see which horse wins and if the horse just "wins by nose" or by a greater distance. Perhaps the bigger the nose, the better!

May we
too each day take time to "stop" and think about all our many daily blessings. May we be thankful and encouraged and joyful…all three at the same time! What a great "trifecta"!! Horses enjoy a simple meal of an apple; may we take much delight in "everyday" blessings too! And just as many race watchers barrack for their favourite horse, may we too seek to "cheer on" our loved family and friends and all who we may come into contact with day-by-day.!!

Geraniums are such lovely flowers! They just grow wild in our garden, and are nicer and more beautifuller than any flower you could ever buy from a shop. They just seem to yell out to me "home!" From when I was very little, geraniums have always played a special role in my life. When I was very little, Mum and I would go out to the garden every few days and pick a little posy of these flowers, wrap them in foil (it was always foil! Such a homely comforting touch when I remember it.) And then Mum would bundle me into the pram/stroller and off we would go on our way as she pushed me around the different streets and up and down hills to visit my grandma/grandpa (Mum's parents) who lived not too far away, with me proudly holding my little posy of geraniums tightly in my little hands to give to Mama and Papa. They may not have looked as good when we reached our destination as when they started off from our house, but they would always be delightedly received and placed in a vase, until they needed to be "disposed off" a few days later…and then we could
again pick another posy for them! We went to visit my grandparents every day so we certainly kept their house full of these little posies! In fact, I think that originally when Mum and Dad bought our house, they planted the geraniums from an off cut from my Papa's own geranium bush, so really the flowers were returning to him!

Geraniums give out a lovely fragrance too. The scent remains on your hand when you are carrying them, and also fills the room where they are placed. When I think of geraniums, I think of homely, warm, comforting things…of family memories…of joy in the little things…just a tinge of sadness because I miss my grandma and grandpa…of how love and kindness and care leaves a beautiful
fragrance on the hands of both the giver and the receiver. May we treasure our family and friends, treasure the little homely things of life, and treasure all the fragrance that our loved ones add and give out to us in our lives!

It is just a week before Christmas Day! I have been thinking about the first Christmas Day night. I don't think that it would have been a very quiet night. I can hear the angels singing praises the most melodiously than could ever be sung. I can hear the shepherds talking to each other excitedly about what they had heard and seen. I can hear all the animals around the manger using all their animal mouths to cheer and praise and celebrate too. And I can hear Mary and Joseph tenderly and softly talking to our loving Lord Jesus. May this Christmas time be a very special time for you. I send

loving thoughts to each of you, and please know that you are all extra very, very special to me and to our loving Lord, whose birth we all celebrate!!

Many students are going back to school this week. It is a fun time filled with a sense of "newness" about it. New books, new subjects, new classmates, new teachers, new things to learn. Some students are starting school for the first time, or other ones are starting Secondary school, whilst there are also students who will now be attending a new school because their families have moved houses since last year. But every person is always a student in everyday life. Each day we learn something new, or see or read or hear something new that we never knew before or makes us think or surprises us or

encourages us. May we all continue to enjoy learning new things each day, and take delight in the little and big things of life!

I was thinking the other day about cheese slices. Every day, there must be literally thousands of cheese slices eaten by people around Australia, whether it is in sandwiches or in a salad, or used in recipes or in a hamburger or on dry biscuits or perhaps grilled on toast ! Cheese slices usually all look the same,although when you taste them they can sometimes have quite different flavours.

We are not like cheese slices, because everyone looks uniquely different and are uniquely special. We all have different likes and interests, things we prefer to do, are good at doing some things and not so good at doing other things. We are all different in many ways. But at the same time, we are all the same! We all laugh, cry, smile, get tired, feel happy, and have times of sadness. And we all want to have people who love us and whom we love. It is good to be different…it is good to be the same ...it is good to be uniquely you whom no-one else could take your important place in this world ❤️