The best things about Missouri

Now that I've been in Missouri about a year and a half I find that my opinion about the best things here is pretty much unchanged from when we first moved to the area.

One of the very best things about the town we came to is the wonderful lady in the picture. This is Mary Cooper and she is a charter member of the church that I've come to call our Missouri family. Her intense love of the Lord has made her so lively and sweet, even after facing some pretty tragic circumstances, that I can't help but have my day brightened whenever I'm around her.

Mary's a pretty tough act to follow but I think my next favorite thing about Missouri is all the birds. I'd have to admit that there's a bit of a down-side to this as seeing the telephone wires and ground covered in an avian swarm does give me a bit of a "The Birds" feeling , and I've never even watched the movie. Other than that though, a strategically placed hummingbird feeder in the summer and songbird feeder the rest of the year is a casual bird-watcher's dream. In Colorado bluebirds were a once-every-couple-of-years treat while here they're quite common. Cardinals are unheard of there but can be seen, or at least their car-alarm calls heard, all year around. I even saw an oriole last summer, and the humming birds would have what Son likes to call "wing-to-wing combat" over our balcony. I have really enjoyed seeing an unfamiliar bird at the feeder, guessing what it is, and then checking my guess in our bird-book. When I'm right I get a nice glow every time I see another of the same type and if I'm wrong I've learned a new bird. It's definitely a win-win situation.

The last thing I particularly like about this area is the many varieties of plants and flowering trees that are new to me. Of course there's also poison ivy/oak/sumac, which aren't a problem on the front range, but since I'm not the one who wandered into it I consider it to be a fair trade for the trees that bloom all summer long. There are also many wildflowers , and even a few herbs, that aren't found in Colorado and I like finding these as much as seeing a new type of bird. It is a little frustrating that I still haven't found someone in the area who can tell me what a lot of the plants are. I don't know if I just haven't asked the right person yet or if I'm just unusual in wanting to know about them.