This earth of majesty, this other Eden, demi-paradise, this precious blue stone set in a silver sea, this little world, this blessed plot, this earth, this dear green earth, this home.

....we pause now to consider miracles.

--paraphrase, Richard the Second, William Shakespeare

Blue Jay is taking his time over breakfast this morning. I have been through with mine for awhile, but he is still gobbling up pieces of sunflower heart from the porch railing.

He looks around leisurely and picks up a few more grains and then gazes out at the world again. He is still doing this. He must have eaten a whole teaspoonful this chilly morning.

I don’t know why I dwell so much on the problems of this world when I have everything I could possibly want right here in my cozy nest. My children love me, I have good health, good neighbors, any food I want, an iMac, and  plenty of heat and light and water, with lovely pine trees to look at  across the way, a beach to walk upon, and on a clear winter day,  bright sunshine pouring in to keep me warm with solar heat.

But, I really do know why I dwell so often on the agony in the rest of the world:  I can’t help it. It is my world, too. This precious blue stone set in a silver sea. This earth, this dear green earth. This blessed speck of the universe. This miracle.

The phone rings, I move across the living room.

Jay Jay is still at breakfast. Bless him.

--Elizabeth Skulstad, Beaufort, NC