The Bluebirds are Here...

Happiness, helpfulness, heartfulness...the bluebird brings a song of hope and mirth. Have you ever seen one? You know the tales, the folk lore and the myths.....In almost every culture the bluebird makes a cheery appearance. In the 17th Century the fairy tale "L'Oiseau Bleu" made it's debut with much of our contemporary lore and love for the bird descendant. But long before, the Navajo had revered the Mountain Bluebird as sacred and associated it with the rising sun...ahh "the early bird". And in Korean traditional, the bluebird had a hotline to the gods and was a metaphysical operative reporting on human behavior...."a little bird told me"...

The wonderful thing is that all these references and links to the blue bird across time and oceans are positive. I daresay no other creature has such a resume! It's no wonder I adore them....and do you know who else I adore?....Cindy and Bob.

They came for a visit this week. It's our tradition, just about a month before our Annual Spring Soiree, Bob and Cindy make the 2 hour drive and spend the day getting me going with the party preparations. Without fail they wing in and roll up their sleeves. We roost at my kitchen table for the day and work away as diligently as birds building a nest.

Bob and Cindy have been in my life for 6 years now, along with their beautiful daughther Jennifer (...she seemed a little girl when I met her and now she's an upperclassman on the Dean's List!) They have helped me at every show I have done for more than 3 years, every party, before each event, during and after (Bob has, single-handed, carried more boxes, appliances, doors, and odd bits of furniture up and down my basement steps... than all the rest of us put together!) Tireless, true friends making it all possible. Putting up with me, my baloney and somehow loving the circus of it all!

This week they arrived with a birthday present for me. The wee Jody Battalgia blue bird in its nest pictured above.... What a perfect gift...I loved it..And then, the planets began to aling in full blue bird style.....As we unpacked the boxes that arrived that day, we found that Nicole Bowen had sent bluebirds on cupcakes and bluebirds in sweet enamel cups with sewing notions. Then today, Jill Wiener dropped off a blue bird teapot and kitchen goodies including this lidded bowl. Then Jennifer Lanne sent the bird and the nest...

...so I began to look around at all the bluebirds that have arrived since Cindy and Bob were here and it brought me this wonderful sense of happiness. This blog post just had to be dedicated to the bluebirds of happiness in my life....my friends.

When I began to look through pictures for ones of Cindy and Bob, none were to be found save those I just took on their recent visit (Cindy cannot stand getting her picture taken!). But VOILA! I finally found a picture of Cindy with her great pal artist Judy Eppolito....and look carefully, see what she is holding in her hands in the tent by all the grand teddies???....Yes, a bluebird. This picture was taken in 2004...and Cindy and Bob are still alighting with happiness and helpfulness on their wings. For this I love them.

And to those of you who will be here at the party in a few weeks, know that it would not be possible without them. Just as I could never be happy wihtout my true friends.

xxoo Jen O'Connor

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