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Just Start!

Have you ever had to do something that you didn’t want to do or you just couldn’t get started? 

Author Elaine Powers at easel
I finally decided to start the painting with a little seed sprout.

It happens to all of us. It’s easy to find excuses not to start. Like when writing blog posts, I stare at the blank page and wonder what I should write. All that white space, staring back at me.

Today, I remembered when I was on Eleuthera, where the island’s artists had all come together to sell their work. As part of the event, a blank canvas was set up with paints. The idea was, artists and visitors would each add something to the painting. 

The canvas was set up right behind my table. I saw the hesitancy to begin and I encouraged every artist that went by to start the painting, but none of them would. So I did. I was there celebrating the publication of my new book, Grow Home, Little Seeds, which is about plants finding their homes and sprouting, so I painted a plant sprouting as it pushed up out of the earth.

Amazingly, that’s all it took. The artists each added something and, as you can see, created an amazing piece of art.

You can still see my original sprout, too! So you see, just a little effort can get things going and you just might end up with a masterpiece.

The book I was selling is set in the Leon Levy Preserve on Eleuthera. It’s a tale of seed-friends, each finding their own perfect place to sprout.

book cover about seeds finding a place to sprout
The graduating bundle of mixed seeds of the Leon Levy Preserve vows to stay together and form their own forest. Will they be able to remain together, or will their natures lead them in different directions? Will they find what the need to survive, to germinate, and to put down roots? Join these Bahamian natives on their adventures to find their places to call home.

There’s Cuckoo Birds Everywhere! By Curtis Curly-tail

My friend Elaine lives in the Sonoran Desert in Southern Arizona in the US, while I live on Warderick Wells Cay in the Bahamas. Even though we’re over two thousand miles apart, we share a family of birds. I like to have an occasional adventure and when I was visiting the Leon Levy Preserve on Eleuthera recently, I saw a magnificent bird, the Great-Lizard Cuckoo, in a tree. PHEW! I usually see these birds on the ground running. When you’re a lizard, seeing a running cuckoo can be terrifying!  They eat lizards, you know.

Watching the cuckoo run, I realized I had seen something similar in a video my friend Elaine sent me. In the Sonoran Desert and many other places, there’s a bird that runs just like my Great-Lizard Cuckoo.  That’s because the Roadrunner is a member of the Cuckoo family.

photo of Greater Roadrunner in the Sonoran Desert
Photo by Elaine Powers
illustration of a desert roadrunner
Strong. Fast and Courageous, Roadrunner Doesn’t Need To Fly

Cuckoos are found on all the continents except Antarctica and they’re all magnificent. I’m so glad my friend and I can both enjoy these wonderful birds. If you want to learn more about Elaine’s Roadrunner, check out her book Don’t Make Me Fly! It’s all about the roadrunner and it’s lots of fun because it’s written in rhyme.