Sparks
With Valentine’s Day tomorrow, I wanted a Spark about love. When I found this one from Lydia Marie Child, it “spoke” to me.
Dad Tom took the photo yesterday when we were having non-stop rain. We have several male and female cardinals that visit our yard and bird feeders daily.
Whether they symbolize love, loyalty or are embraced as spiritual messengers, cardinals are conspicuous in mythology and literature through the centuries. Many individuals believe cardinals appear as messengers from Heaven bringing love and comfort when loved ones have passed away. In Native American lore, cardinals represent devotion, loving relationships, courtship and monogamy. In Christianity cardinals and the blood of Jesus are used as the symbols of everlasting vitality. At Christmas their presence is seen to represent hope and joy. And seeing a bright red cardinal means that the individual is being blessed with good luck and fortune.
So I think this photo is the perfect backdrop for today’s Spark.
I found the author of today’s Spark, Lydia Maria Child, to be particularly interesting. She lived from 1802 to 1880 and was an American abolitionist, women’s rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist and journalist. In spite of her long list of accomplishments, she may be best known for her poem “Over the River and Through the Wood.”
Sparks is the creation of Annie from McGuffy’s Reader. Sparks began as a blog hop, created by our friend. Annie stated when she began Sparks, “I believe we are meant to be lights in this world. If we allow our light to shine, we can see where we are going. It is then that we can begin to truly see each other clearly. Together, we can light up the entire world.”
The Adventures of Periwinkle & Stinky
Those two fun-loving tabbies, Periwinkle & Stinky, will be setting off on their next adventure tomorrow. As it will be Valentine’s Day, I suspect Stinky has something special planned for his lovely lady, Periwinkle. You can join them right here, and they certainly hope you will. They always have more fun when you tag along. So, please drop by and lend them a hand or paw in whatever they get up to! They’ll be waiting for you.
What a sweet spark.
Great spark and beautiful photo. XO
That’s a pretty photo and such a wonderful Spark.
I didn’t know any of that about cardinals. I will always look at them differently now.
Beeuteefull foto Unkell Tom!
Lovelee SPARK Aunty Janet!
Wee LOVESS youss’ an Kittiess Blue so-o much!
~~~head rubss~~~BellaDharma~~~ an (((hugss))) BellaSita Mum
A beautiful cardinal and an even more beautiful quote.
See you tomorrow for your Valentines adventure.
Have a fabulous day and week. Scritches all around, a smooch to Cooper Murphy and Sawyer and a big hug to mom. ♥
Purrfect Spark and a great photo of the cardinal. Ours have been visiting a lot lately and Mom always sees them as signs from our Daddy.
Periwinkle can’t wait for tomorrow!
The Florida Furkids with love and whisker kisses to Sawyer from Noelle
We agree…all we need is love.
I saw a cardinal yesterday, as well as a black-eyed junco…cool!
You can’t beat love. Great spark.
That’s such a beautiful SPARK and the photo Dad Tom took of the cardinal is the perfect accompaniment. We like thinking that the beautiful cardinal is a visitor reminding us of a loved one – my Mom thinks that about butterflies too. We carry our loved ones in our hearts forever so they ARE with us always.
Hugs, Teddy
Oh, such a messenger of love and an amazinly beautiful one at that. Mama’s mama had a bird feeder and there were cardinals each day, making her so happy to watch them.
Beautiful cardinal picture and meaningfull spark! Interesting that the author also wrote “Over The River …”
That is a great spark to go with that petty cardinal picture. I do believe they mate for life, so yet another great thing about love, it is forever.
Of course Over the River and Through the Woods, was how to get to Grandma’s house…where there would be an abundance of love for her family members, both young and old.