"The Periwinkle Ribbon"

When my sleepy eyes opened this frosty morning, the air smelled like snowflakes.
I was sure a magic paint brush had dusted my world with frozen flecks of star dust.
New adventures were reaching out to my paws, and so I reached back.
As the sun rose, her rays stretched clear across the pale blue sky.
Colors of pink and purple swirls were cuddling with each other, as the moon began to slip behind the sleeping mountains.

I shivered as my paws stepped out onto the frozen blades of grass.
"Too cold", I thought to myself. " But, better cold than wet and soppy."
Frozen forest trees with moss covered branches, stood silent in the distance.
I could see them glistening as the sun began to touch their long needles.

And then I heard the chirp, chirp , chirping of the birdies.
Little Junco birds, with dark eyes, and cold feet, huddled close together on the branches of the naked trees.
Just like spring robin's preparing to sing their morning songs, the little Junco's sat all fat and fluffy, all in a row.
The sun rays reached down and warmed their feathers as they stretched their wings!
And then the Juncos began to sing. " Chirp, chirp, chirp" !

"What do they see?"
"Who do they hear?"
The Junco's dark eyes peered toward the magical forest.
"Ohh, I think the forest is calling to you," I said to the Junco's!
"Can I go with you into the forest, and look, and see, and listen?"
And so we did.
On this very cold frosty morning, me and the Junco's headed off into the sleeping forest.
The Junco's flew above my head, and I ran as fast as my paws could run.
High into the sky their little wings lifted them, higher and higher.
Into the forest the Junco's soared like eagles!

I stopped on the edge of the forest and gazed at the splendor.
I gazed at the shadows that were beginning to stretch among the sleeping giants.
And then I gazed at the long fingered pine needles, where the frozen droplets began to fall like sparkly diamonds.
I softly tiptoed onto the moss, while a sun ray warmed my shoulder.
I stood very quiet and I could hear Owlburt's hoooot-coming from the darkest part of the forest.

The forest looked so different today.
Was it really the forest that had changed?
How can the forest change so much, in just one day?
How can it be?
"I know that the forest was not like this yesterday. "Or was it, I asked myself?"
Wasn't yesterday Autumn- with colors of gold and red?
Wasn't it yesterday when the sunflowers bloomed, and I played with the butterfly's?
I looked at the sleeping giants, and I could hear only silence.
The silence was muffled by a mysterious occasional snore. "zzzzzzzzzz"
The golden ferns were cuddling their fronds into a nest, that had become twisted and tangled by the wind.
I knew the ferns were sleeping too.
"Hush", I said to myself, "I must be quiet."
I did not hear any roots stretching in the cold earth.
I did not hear the trees wiggling their toes.

Was I listening close enough?
Some of the sleeping giants lay silent on the ground, covered with brown leaves.
Oh, I must help them stand I thought, but I could not awaken them.
I tried to whisper into their ears, but their snores were too loud. "zzzzzzzzz".
I felt helpless!
The little creek that used to trickle, is now frozen and it's too gigantic for me to leap across!
Everything was different.
My mind raced backwards to another time when I found the red buttons floating down the stream.
Do you remember?
I remember the little tracks in the snow that I followed that special day, but they are all gone.
I remember the rabbits that lived in the thicket, that was hidden in the briars and thorns.
I remember the colored ribbons and yarn that decorated their hollow, and how I helped Nibblet and his family to make a comforter for Granny Rabbit.
I remember Granny Rabbit taking my paw and placing the threaded pine needle into it.
I remember how all the rabbits and I sewed the red buttons onto the old tattered , but loved, new comforter and how we all joined paws and placed the comforter on the bed, made from the twisted branches.
The forest is asleep. And yes, the forest has changed before my very eyes.
As I sat on the soft moss pondering those special moments, a sun beam tapped me on the shoulder.
I turned around to look and then I saw the little Junco's fluttering across the sky, like snowflakes.
The Junco's were carrying long pieces of periwinkle ribbon in their beaks. Periwinkle ribbons streaming through the skys!
Oh, what a site to behold!!
I pondered my thoughts for a moment, and then I started to run, to a clearing where the giant trees stood long ago.
I ran as fast as a lightning bolt in the sky.
And then I stopped and gazed into the fog, watching the Junco's soar.
I watched as the Perinwinkle ribbons made circles in the sky, like a sky dance!
Around and around the ribbons swirled, and then through the fog I saw it!
My eyes could not believe the beauty before me.
The oldest snag that I have ever seen, stood bravely and alone on the hill.
Once long ago, the snag was one of the most giant and bravest trees in the forest.
But it's time had come, to become more than just a tree.

Now the snag was a home to many forest animals.
Squirrels and mice and birds, and bats and raccoons found a safe shelter in the snag.
The Junco's swirled around and around the snag, and then they dipped their feathered wings and dived into a big hole!
As I came closer to the snag, I could see ribbons of many colors, draping from their weathered and crooked limbs.
Ribbons of every color were overflowing from the snag, and blowing in the breeze!
It was at that moment when I saw them!

The rabbits!

The rabbits had encircled the snag!

There they sat, shoulder to shoulder, clutching the periwinkle ribbons in their tiny paws!

Their little rabbit voices cheered!

Suddenly a shadow appeared over my shoulder. I felt the air move!

I recognized the wings, the eyes and the hoooot!

The splendorious, wings began to swoop from the sky!

And then I gasped, as the fluttering wings landed on top of the snag.
Owlburt- the wisest Owl in the forest had come home to the grandest snag of all.

Welcome home Owlburt!

Nitey nite
love
tweedles

ps my mama painted the Junco's and Perwinkle ribbon.