The hummingbird is a symbol of peace and love,  a symbol of accomplishing that which seems impossible through tireless energy and quick action.  Birds are also the bellwether of climate health. They are a symbol for mankind..."working hard to hopefully repair some of our past misdeeds and save our world".

It seems that everywhere one looks today the news is not good...but that is not true!  There are some wonderful things happening all over and this week I want to concentrate on some of those things.  I am an optimist and I believe that we should, can and will take care of our home, this earth.  Here are some of the good things going on around our world.  I don't have enough room to go into great depth here but any subject can be further researched on the Internet.

1. Do you know what a Mangrove swamp is?  A mangrove is a shrub or small tree that lives and flourishes in coastal brackish water . The term is also used for tropical coastal swamps.  A Mangrove teems with life and is extremely important to the earth's ecosystem.  A new worldwide partnership is protecting and restoring mangroves around the world.  Worldwide cooperative efforts are ongoing in areas as diverse as Malaysia, Pakistan, Mexico, Colombia, Indonesia and Madagascar among others.

2. The Ozone is repairing itself.  After scientists identified the atmosphere obliterating effect of aerosols containing chlororfourocarbons (CFCs) we banned them in 1987, we have made a big impact: the hole over the Antarctic shrank 1.7 million square miles from 2000 to 2015.

3.  The country of Chile set aside 11 million acres of land for national parks in Patagonia.  It was the largest-ever land donation from a private entity to a country. 

4. A provence in Pakistan announced it has planted one billion trees in two years, in an effort to control terrible flooding.  

5. Trees, of course give off the oxygen that humans need and countries are stepping up to a healthier ecosystem.  The Cameroon committed to restoring over 12 million hectares of forest in the Congo Basin and Brazil started a project to plant 73 million trees, the largest tropical reforestation project in history.  The U.S. has seen overall growth in forests to the point that today we have 820 million trees in our natural world.

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I have a teddy bear collection.  I have given my teddies away several times to young children or charities ... but the collection keeps rebuilding so I researched....am I the only adult woman who has a "warm fuzzie" collection?  It turns out that I am not the only one by any means.  Both men and women keep their plush animals (particularly teddy bears) well into adulthood.  Why is this?

Psychologists call warm fuzzies "transitional objects" for children and they can be a little teddy bear or stuffed animal, a "blankie" or a pillow. Whatever it is, it gives the child a security object.  I remember, when my grandson visited me and he left his "blankie". He missed it so much that I had to send it home to him the next day; he couldn't sleep without it.  I also remember when I was a child and my brother left his teddy bear at camp.  My father had to turn around and go back and get my brother's "best friend" before we returned home.

What do these warm fuzzies provide for children?  Psychologists say that children need the companionship of a non threatening, special friend to help them deal with their fears and anxieties and they may use them to calm themselves down in stressful situations (like leaving Mommy to go to preschool).  It is not unusual to find a preschool child reading to his or her special fuzzy companion or talking to one on a toy telephone.  They are real and they are comforting.  The warm fuzzy encourages emotional well-being and may, or may not, be abandoned at a later age. The attachments that we develop early, particularly to our stuffed animals, often last for many years.

I collect my teddies in many ways; some are from my travels, some have been given to me and some I just thought were cute and I bought them. I have a pair of little baby sloths that I bought in Costa Rica and a pair of dressed up teddies that I bought in Switzerland.  One of my favorites is my koala bear that is, in reality, a golf club cover for my clubs.  However it seems to have wound up on my bed and I use it as a hand puppet for playing with children.  

Do men collect warm fuzzies too?  Well, yes they do and some keep them on their desks or travel with them.  We have an Eeyore who sits on a Harley Davidson motorcycle in our bedroom that belongs to my partner and a teddy bear that his daughter gave him from her alma mater.  Although he and I are adults and have been professionals for many years, we still seem to hold on to these sweet objects.  I don't disclaim my collection.  My teddies  are soft and friendly faces in a sometimes challenging world and I enjoy them.  It seems that fuzzies are our security objects all through life.

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Children love to cook!  Nothing is more fun than getting in the kitchen with Momma (or Daddy - Daddies like to cook too) to make something neat to eat.  In my book "Cooking Fun" Lae Lae learns to cook in a fun but safe way with her momma.  She also learns the importance of organization and cleanliness as she prepares her special treat and cleans up afterwards (so important!).  

Experiencing the food specialties of other countries is a way to understand and appreciate the people and culture of the country.  Amalia, one of Lae Lae's friends in the book, is from Colombia.  In the activity section of "Cooking Fun", where I include simple little recipes that children can make,  I have recipes from Colombia among the recipes from the United States.   The Colombian Arepa is one of the oldest and most well known foods of Colombia (and Venezuela as well).  It is a simple little cheese and corn "pancake" and it can be eaten many different ways.  They are eaten almost daily in Colombia.  Many times when I read my books with children we will do one of the activities included in the book that we are reading.  As we were reading "Cooking Fun"
and Amalia was from Colombia, we decided to make arepas.  

We divided the class of 25 boys and girls (first graders) into smaller groups  and we had them "clean up" to cook.  After they had washed their hands, we then let them measure all the ingredients (1 cup corn meal, 1 cup water and 1/2 cup grated Monterrey Jack cheese) for the arepas into a big bowl. They stirred it well as the corn meal tends to settle to the bottom and the cheese tends to clump.  We had to remember to do this several times during the pouring. 

The two adults poured the batter onto the griddle and made the  little "pancakes".  Then the children got to do their part again, selecting the toppings from the toppings bar....organic strawberry spread (with no aded sugar), organic honey, powdered sugar or parmesan cheese for the finishing touch to their arepas snack.  It was so much fun and the children made a very easy little treat of areas finished out with their own tasty variations.

A pair of wrens made a nest in my daughter's tree and began the cycle of motherhood (and fatherhood - daddy wrens take a very active role) in the bird kingdom.  I was curious about the patterns of this little bird with its cheery twirping and so I looked it up.  The male wren builds the nest where the female will sit on her eggs until they hatch.  He may make several nests and she will choose which one suits her best.  After all she is going to have a long time sitting there - the nest should be one that she likes!  After she has chosen one she will finish it out and make a small depression to line with grass and pine needles for the egg laying.  After she's happy with her home she will lay one egg each day until she has laid about 5 to 7 eggs. Then she will patiently sit on them for 12 - 15 days until they hatch.  Her mate will bring her food and she will sometimes leave herself for short flights to get food.  After the eggs hatch, both the momma and the dad will feed the babies.  They are very devoted parents.  The diet of the wren is almost totally insects so they can be very good for your spring garden.  

Wrens are not bothered by passing humans but they can get very bossy if you get too close and many a pet has experienced an angry dive bomb from a wren.  While good for the garden they can drive other birds away and can be very territorial and aggressive for their size.

After the eggs hatch, the babies stay in the nest for another 16-17 days until they are ready to try their wings. After these babies have left, the parent wrens may have a second nesting later in the summer as their breeding season runs from March to July.  When fall comes these tiny birds will head south to spend the winter.

Every spring I love the songs of birds, the sights of the nesting mommas and, if I'm lucky, the experience of seeing the fledgling baby birds as they leave the nest.  Most of the time, they seem to do it when I'm not around; just one day they are gone.  It is cheery and it reassures me that the life of the natural species will go on year after year and our world will be blessed by it.

I just love it that the children of today are growing up with such environmental awareness and an attitude of saving our earth.  During an Earth Day celebration this spring, my elementary aged granddaughters designed and produced a lovely and inventive bird shelter out of recycled elements.  The challenge was to take recycled items and make something useful out of them.  They made this "bird shelter"  out of old paper plates.  It took four paper plates to make a darling little "bird nest".  It has a roof to keep the rain out and sides to protect Momma Bird from the wind.  They put a small stick in the middle to hold the roof up.  After it was all glued together they sprayed it (with some help from an adult) with several coats of polyurethane to make it waterproof.  When it was all dry and sturdy, they added a bit of grass to make a nest in the middle for the baby eggs while the Momma Bird sat on them to hatch them.  In the demo, they used ping pong balls to illustrate the eggs.  Then for a little bright whimsey, they added colorful feathers to "attract" the momma bird.  When it was finished, they put it in a protected place on an outdoor ledge where the squirrels couldn't climb or jump to get it, to wait for a momma to come and make it her home.  Such an adorable use of old paper plates and recycling.  Now I just hope that a momma bird finds it and wants to make it her happy home.