The world is chock full of small visual and auditory ecstasies; in my younger days I’d spare them barely a glance. Oh, I missed a lot!
These days I’m learning to more fully notice and appreciate life’s ‘candy.’
Animals, too, show wonder and appreciation when exposed to little novelties.
Cases in point:
My younger daughter Lisa loves her five-ounce, bright yellow budgie, BB Birdie, who loves her right back.
This tiny creature is full of curiosity and enjoys novel sounds, games and tastes.
One day recently Lisa invited BB onto her forefinger, then walked over to her new upright piano and began to play some middle-register notes. BB flew to her shoulder and watched with intense concentration as Lisa’s hands moved around the keyboard, picking out melodies. When Lisa played the upper register notes, which have pleasant tinkle-y sounds, BB swayed back and forth, chirping with pleasure. She stopped singing when Lisa stopped playing, and, after a polite waiting period, looked at her hard, head cocked. There was a distinct question there. Well?? Why stop? Play, please! Lisa obliged. Once again BB happily sang along with the piano. High notes always got a positive response. Low notes made her squawk and squirm.
After a bit Lisa stopped playing to put BB on her finger again and draw her close. Eye-to-eye with the little bird she began to sing a gentle folk song. BB was riveted! She closed her eyes and let the melody pour over her. She was the very picture of bliss! When the song finished she stayed on Lisa’s finger, thinking hard.
After a little silence she opened her eyes and cheeped for Lisa to bring her closer. Placing her closed beak gently between Lisa’s lips she opened it wide, making Lisa’s mouth open, too. BB wanted more music to come out of it! Feeling a frisson of awe, Lisa sang another folk melody. BB, still perched on her finger, watched Lisa’s mouth move as she listened. Eventually, birdie and human sang together. (Recent research, by the way, has suggested that humans and birds do share an appreciation of music...)
This special time lasted five or six minutes- a long time for a tiny bird to focus so intensely. Exhausted and happy, BB flew to her cage to grab a quick bite to eat before settling down for a nap.
Lisa likes to offer BB new tastes (all carefully researched in advance, of course: budgies can eat only certain foods. The wrong veggie- say, an avocado- might make them very ill, or even kill them). BB has learned to relish fresh spinach leaves, a special treat. She’ll eat one delicately, while making smacking, yum-yum sounds, just as we do when we taste something we especially love. (She doesn’t make pleasure-noises when eating her regular diet, but consumes it without comment.)
This little scrap of life also loves to play tug-of-war with Lisa, who provides a shiny scrap of candy wrapper featuring a bit of tin foil or glitter. Glitter delights BB. She pulls and tugs, and waits for Lisa to relax her guard just slightly: then, in a blink, the glittery scrap is snatched away. She is so incredibly quick!
She’ll dangle it in front of Lisa again and again, loving the game she always wins.
A friend’s stallion loves to play in its large pasture with a huge rubber ball. The toy has a special protruding handle the animal can easily grasp. When tossed, the handle’s presence causes the ball to thrump and bingle-bounce oddly when it lands, which adds visual ‘spice.’ Some balls even have a jingle-y bell inside for added intrigue. The tough toy has survived being vigorously kicked and thoroughly stomped. The horse loves to pounce on it as it bumbles to a stop, and then swing it round and round.
What fun! Who knew that horses might enjoy doing more than chomping grass in their free time!
Fascinating thought: What might a herd of cows do with this ball?
I try to create interesting experiences for Bryn. She gets a kick out of ‘find-the-treat-in-the paper towel-roll.’ Once the wedged-in treat is extracted and scarfed down there’s the fun of delicately pealing the long roll apart before finally chewing it to shreds. I got the idea when I noticed that Bryn loves to strip big fallen branches of every scrap of bark.
Another game: In the park I’ll wait until she’s distracted by delectable sniffs elsewhere, then dash behind a broad tree trunk to hide. After a bit Bryn will look up to find me gone, and I swear she’ll grin. Nose to the ground she’ll roar around at top speed, to find me at last. She’ll bounce in place, gleeful and triumphant.
Joe and I have another park game: I’ll cover Bryn’s eyes with my hands and count slowly to ten in a loud voice- (she’ll stand there, rock-still, but ready to burst-) while Joe hides somewhere. I’ll remove my hands: trembling, she’ll wait until I give the command: “Find Joe!” Off she’ll go, delighted. (At first she’d run higgley-piggley, forgetting to use her nose, but lately she’s remembered to sniff the air to pinpoint his position more quickly.) It’s wonderful to watch her ‘go for the gold.’
She looks up high to watch geese noisily honk their way across the icy winter sky: a sense of puzzlement fills her face.
And today, when she walked outside into snow, Bryn had an ecstasy fit! She stood in the middle of snowy Hannah Park, rapt, then ran as fast as she could through it, round and round in huge ovals before finally skidding to a stop next to me, tongue hanging out, eyes sparkling. Then she indulged in multiple luxuriant rolls, working the powdery stuff into every pore.
My dog loves snow!
I love watching her experience the world’s little delights.