Dear Reader:

It took a little red cardinal named Sammy to teach me about signs …probably a decade ago. Some of you faithful readers remember my extreme agitation when I discovered that ( just not one but both of my front door rear-view mirrors) had been pecked so badly by the bird that they were off-kilter and scratched.

My neighbor Luke got the mirrors secured better… and cleaned the mirrors so the scratches weren’t so visually limiting … though still scratched.

My heart took a turn for Sammy when Patty Knight told me that when cardinals look in the mirror… they think it is another cardinal and males are territorial so they fight it-thus the scratches. But her cardinal ended up killing itself in the fight… it made her so sad when she found it by the car.

So I started parking in my second driveway and apparently a truce developed… over time Sammy would perch on the porch light fixtures and just watch me watering the plants. I purchased a bird feeder for him when I realized he and Mrs Sammy had a family in one of my large thick bushes by the side driveway.

When I added the side garden, years back, a red cardinal would fly over frequently and even as late as last year come to perch on the ledge by the window in my computer room … I have been typing and practically fallen out of my chair by a pecking noise on my screen right next to me.

And then from my first Christmas after meeting Sammy… oh… the red cardinal ” Sammy” gifts you readers have given me …they have multiplied like the fish and the loaves. I didn’t have time to pull out all my Christmas Tree Sammies but here is a couple of pictures.

Sammy indirectly helped the police catch the thief who stole my old green Saturn Vue… the car Sammy fought the rear-view mirrors in.

When a policeman called me late one Saturday night near midnight to go identify my car… they had caught the culprit. The teenager had already been handcuffed and taken in by the time we arrived-apparently there had been a chase through a subdivision ( very dangerous) … the car was running on habit because it was barely drive-able and the scent of drugs had me driving with my head outside the window. Insurance-wise it was totaled.

But there was some humor… the policeman told me the ” kid” kept bragging that he would have gotten away but he couldn’t see well enough outside the rear-view mirrors!

So until tomorrow… “God works in mysterious ways”… especially with little red cardinals! Thanks Sammy!

As the title car magnet ( that I have ordered ) says… ” Kindness Matters” … with all God’s creatures!

Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh

Atticus bravely returned to the vet surgeon for removal of cancer cells around his cute little snout… skin cancer… all went well-Tommy said he was very brave on the way over… so they stopped and treated him to a McDonald hamburger after the procedure! Boo loves you Atticus!