I remember as a child taking car trips with my family – I was often buried in a book, but I know I must have asked that dreaded question many times – and I am equally sure that my younger siblings often did the same. Time passes differently in childhood. Days are endless; summers last forever, and it seems that Christmas will never come.
Time moves differently as we age. The rushing river of Time of which we are never outside becomes ever faster. The meandering pace of childhood picks up speed, and time passes in minutes as we grow older.
And yet that question remains – are we there yet? Have we reached our destination? The “there” changes over time, and yet it is still somewhere out there in the far distance. We are moving toward a horizon that always is just out of reach.
Have you considered what “there” is for you, and whether the possibility exists that you are already “there”? If we as humans are constantly focused on the next thing, that which is to come, we miss so much of what is here now.
If I have learned anything from these months of pandemic isolation, it is that now is what we have. The opportunity to slow down, pay attention, spend time with people I love has never been more present and essential, especially given that these months included the loss of beloved family members (my brother, sister, brother-in-law, and aunt – none to COVID, but gone nonetheless) – and the loss of a feline friend who gave us eighteen years of loving presence. We also received the gift of another precious granddaughter and the adoption of another feline friend.
Friends, “there” is a mirage – a desert oasis calling us away from the actual present. I hope that you can find ways to stay fully present with your life today. It really is a gift, and it is all that we have.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please….. Give HerSavvy credit!
The days are already shortening, and the air is occasionally brisk if one arises early enough. Yesterday as I worked at my desk I watched two squirrels fighting over the bird seeds that had fallen from the feeders – each determined to be the most successful. A territorial mockingbird has hovered over the feeders at times as well – the smaller birds seem to just give way to this larger and certainly more vociferous creature – they come back when the mockingbird departs.
Watching the birds and wildlife from my window during the last eighteen months has been both solace and lesson. It’s a small window really, looking out on a little slice of green, some shrubs and a holly bush. Farther away across the sidewalk path is an oak tree, and farther on are steps and the landscaping and front doors of neighbors. Few people actually pass this way – so the wildlife is mostly undisturbed. We have even seen an occasional deer.
I often pause during the day and watch the unfolding drama of survival as the house finches, cardinals, black-capped chickadees, Carolina wrens, blue jays, robins, occasional bluebirds vie for life sustenance. The squirrels have become adept at defeating the so-called squirrel-proof feeders and perform acrobatics on a daily basis just to get to an occasional reward.
I don’t remember a time before the pandemic when I took the time to sit and watch the panorama of life go by. I have always been on the go, a doer, completing tasks, getting things done, being organized. I noticed this morning that I unconsciously create little patterns that streamline the smallest tasks – bunching together the steps it will take to put things in the recycle; making sure I stop at the trash on the way – I do this without much thought.
This way of being has actually served me well over the years – and yet, and yet – as I watch the birds and take time to just be, I am grateful for this unexpected pandemic gift – the gift of slowing down, of taking time for nothing more than being present.
When this challenging time ends – and I do believe it will either end or become mitigated in some way so that we will be able to once again be out in the world – my hope is to hold onto this gift, this experience, of being more centered in present time. In the end present time is what we have – the past is gone; the future is not here – so I will delight in my birds and squirrels and in being here in this world, at this moment in time. May we all be so blessed.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please….. Give HerSavvy credit!
Twenty years. Hard to believe it has been twenty years. The pain has receded; it isn’t daily now as it was in the first several years. When it returns it is tempered now by sweet memories of better days. The things we did together, the moments of laughter we shared, the trips we took – these are precious now.
Twenty years. Hard to believe it has been twenty years. The pain has receded, but when it returns it is jagged and still painful and hard to understand. The pain has not been worked through – it seems instead burned into our memories without healing.
Today, September 11, has two meanings for me.
First, this day would have been my dad’s 101st birthday. He was born in 1920, and he died unexpectedly on the 5th of July, 2001. The first anniversary of his birth occurred on the day that the 9/11 attacks shook our country to the core. Now, twenty years later, we are remembering as a nation that terrible day. I, as a single human being, am remembering both the terrorist attack and the loss of a beloved father.
The most important lesson for me out of all this loss is a simple one. Don’t wait. Don’t wait to visit loved ones. Don’t wait to say you love them. Don’t wait to take that trip, to write that story down, to share happy memories. Our time on this earth is not a given, and we never really know what is ahead.
I didn’t know on July 1, 2001 that the phone call I had with my father would be the last time I heard his voice. Thousands didn’t know on September 11, 2001 that they were saying good-bye for the last time.
Don’t wait. It may be the last thing you ever get to say or do.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com. Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please….. Give HerSavvy credit!
No, that is certainly not Old Smokey. That’s a picture I took from the northwest side of the Nashville-Davidson County Landfill. What appears as a mountain ridge-top is a 77-acre mound of garbage!!!
The site, Southern Services Construction & Demolition landfill, is owned by Waste Management. The company has plans to expand the site by 17 acres, a plan that was rejected by Nashville’s Solid Waste Region Board. In April, the company filed a lawsuit against Davidson County. According to my research, the board has a “Solid Waste Master Plan” which aims to send near zero waste to landfills by 2050. Not exactly around the corner, but it’s a start…
So now, according to the news, Waste Management is having a shortage of employees. Therefore, areas around Nashville are not having their garbage picked up. The company is resorting to alternating schedules, so people’s trash is piling up. According to WSMV, “An ordinary chore turned into a mound of frustration this month for people living in one Antioch neighborhood who say they weren’t paid a visit from their garbage truck for more than two weeks.” So sad. And I saw interviews on television showing people’s “trash.”
How pathetic. I mean, c’mon people! I saw so many examples of recyclable items: Coke cartons, beer cartons, cans, milk jugs, plastic bags… What’s the deal? It’s 2021 and it’s high time, no, it’s WAY PAST high time for folks to WAKE UP AND SMELL THE GARBAGE!!! Where do they think it goes? Into a pile. Okay. And where does that pile go? Nowhere, people – Nowhere!!!!!!!!!
Now: Many neighborhoods have recycling collection. Sure, they have some restrictions (like no glass – dangerous, I guess), but how hard is it to get it to the curb? I have to tote mine to one of the recycling collection bin centers around town, or in my county, but it’s worth it. I’ve been doing it for YEARS. I just plan it in to my schedule and I know, at least I hope, it’s being dealt with sustainably. As for plastic bags, most grocery stores have bins for those.
I know the public hears the word “recycle.” I believe they even know what it means. But if we don’t start conserving resources, and recycling serves that purpose as well, and limiting our garbage dumping, we are going down a very slippery slope. “Earth Day” is more than just one day a year. Please…
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
As I begin this piece tonight I find myself faced with putting into words what cannot be, can never be, put into words, because words can only carry us so far into experience. Tonight I am faced with an attempt to put into words the enormity of the events of these last days, weeks, months, even years that have piled on, each one unique unto itself and yet combining into what is now greater, harder, more challenging than all its parts. And yet I am going to try, because the trying perhaps is in itself a healing process.
It began slowly – he said after we were all together that Christmas of 2018, somewhat offhandedly, oh by the way, I am having a CT scan when I get back to Berkeley– maybe have fatty liver. Not too much alarm there – then in January the startling news of a tumor in the liver, size of a softball. Surgery to come. Removal of two-thirds of his liver in March, 2019. Reports – it is not primary liver cancer, it is bile-duct cancer. What? Very rare. OF course. Not well understood.
The fight began. He, a scientist and geneticist, participated fully in his treatment, sought information, found clinical trials. A trial he entered gave him, remarkably, almost 21 months of additional, high-quality life. In spite of COVID he thrived, creating family connections and friend connections across the globe, hosting as he always did, connecting others.
November, 2020 – she called, having experience shortness of breath – went to the ER for removal of a liquid surrounding the lungs. In the process of this, a CT scan revealed an abdominal mass. When surgically removed and reviewed – ovarian cancer of a rare and slow-growing type (which meant not responsive to chemo). In January of 2021 she entered a clinical trial. She did very well.
Suddenly things began to change. For him, the clinical trial stopped working. The cancer invaded the biliary tree in the liver, and all attempts to help bile leave the liver were unavailing. Although another trial showed promise, the fight to get there was lost. He left us on May 2, 2021, having survived 21 months post-diagnosis of a type of cancer that rarely if ever allows for more than months of life.
And while all this was happening, she was doing well. A dancer, a lover of nature, she thrived on this beautiful island. From January 2021 to June 2021 she was upbeat, feeling good, feeling positive, enjoying life in paradise, her name for her home on Maui.
Suddenly things began to change. A sensation of pressure in her legs – unclear origin. Suddenly problems with digestion. Next discomfort in abdomen – visit to ER revealing fluid gathered in the abdomen, which when drained showed signs of advanced cancer. Further hospitalization showed the cancer suddenly invading all major organs.
She went home to her beloved partner and entered hospice care on June 30. We arrived – her sisters, her niece, her brother-in-law – on July 3. She knew us. She thanked us for coming.
She left us on July 4, 2021.
A brother. A sister. Both younger than I – ages 70 and 67. Both lost to rare cancers that overwhelmed the best efforts and best care each could have. There is no one to blame. Everyone loved them and fought hard for them, but the cancers were relentless in their proliferation. They both died surrounded by those who loved them.
And now, those who loved them are faced with the daily task of getting up each day and living lives from which their daily presence is gone. Those who loved them have to pick up the pieces of life, to face the bureaucracy of death, the death certificates, the computer passwords, the search for things like safe deposit box keys, the bank accounts.
Those who loved them have to distribute their earthly possessions, decide what to keep, what to give, what to do with the remains of a life.
And yet most of all, those who loved them are faced with walking through each day with the reality of their absence. Many things are said about death – but for me the truth is that death is absence and loss of the precious connection between human souls. I carry them with me in my heart, but I want to hear them, and talk with them, and remember with them, and that will never be again.
So today I mourn the loss of my brother Glenn Hammonds and my sister Lindsay Hammonds – two bright stars who blazed through this world too quickly and left it too soon. I am only at the beginning of the journey of grief. Today I can only feel the loss. Perhaps happy memories will help, but not yet.
Friends, hold each other close. Don’t wait to be together. These COVID months have stopped us in so many ways – but for COVID I would have spent months with each of them instead of having to wait for vaccination to make it safe to go. I am grateful I was able to be with both of them before they died. Don’t wait. Life is not a given, and we are given now, but nothing else is sure.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please….. Give HerSavvy credit!
I watched “Audrey,” on Netflix last night and was so impressed and inspired, I decided to skip my original topic and share this one with you all. Perhaps you’ve seen it, a biography of Audrey Hepburn. Perhaps you already know her story. I’ve always loved her and her characters. Who doesn’t? I just never knew HER story; Where she came from and how she became the powerful force she was; dancer, actor, philanthropist, and that she really became an actress by accident.
Audrey Kathleen Ruston was born on Мау 4, 1929 in Ixelles, Belgium. She adорtеd thе pseudonym Edda van Heemstra іn 1940 tо evade capture bу thе Germans because аn “English sounding” nаmе wаs considered dangerous durіng thе German occupation.
During World War II, when she was just a little girl, the Nazi’s over took Audrey’s town in Holland and thousands died, including some of Audrey’s relatives. Food was very scarce, and, in fact, just to survive, Audrey and her family would grind tulip bulbs to eat and attempt to bake grass into bread. This led to her being extremely malnourished and left her with complications later in her life; Undernourishment, acute anemia, and respiratory problems during the war, contributed to her lifelong waif-like figure.
Audrey wanted to be a prima ballerina. She began training at the early age of 5 for many years to fulfill this desire. Unfortunately, at 5 feet 7 inches, she was too tall, and after being so malnourished when her town was occupied during the war, she often fell ill and could not continue training. She is quoted saying, “…there is probably nothing in the world as determined as a child with a dream and I wanted to dance more than I feared the Germans.”
Audrey worked for the Dutch Resistance and would carry secret messages in her ballet slippers. Anyone suspected of being a part of the resistance, was rounded up and killed. Once, she was suspect and rounded up by truck. She barely escaped when the Nazis pulled over to the side of the road and she crawled under the truck and out the other side. As an agent for the Dutch Resistance, she performed in a series of secret ballets to help raise money for the rebels – after the shows, no one would applaud so as not to alert the German Soldiers. These performances would be called “black performances” to raise money for the rebels and their underground war against Hitler.
At 16, Audrey was a volunteer nurse in a Dutch hospital. During the battle of Arnhem, Hepburn’s hospital received many wounded Allied soldiers. One of the wounded soldiers Audrey helped nurse back to health was a young British paratrooper. Little did she know, the young man would be a future director named Terence Young and within 20 years would later direct her in Wait Until Dark.
Having suffered several miscarriages during her various marriages, but always wanting a family, Audrey was blessed with two sons. She took a hiatus from her career to spend time with them and was away from acting for many years. Her childhood traumas and malnourishment, not to mention her three-pack-a-day smoking habit, contributed to her death at just 64 years old in 1993.
OUR MOST RECENT IMAGES OF HER CAME OUT OF AFRICA where, as a shirtsleeved ambassador for UNICEF, she walked in a ravaged Somalia, giving solace with that radiant smile—and focusing the world’s attention on a starving land. Last September she asked to be taken to the famine’s epicenter, a feeding camp in the town of Baidoa. As she arrived, she saw hundreds of small lifeless bodies being loaded onto trucks. The worst of it, she would later say, eyes welling with tears, was “the terrible silence.”
Audrey donated аll thе salaries shе earned fоr hеr final movies tо UNICEF. She hаd contributed tо UNICEF sіnсе 1954 and wаs appointed Goodwill Ambassador оf UNICEF іn 1988. UNICEF was the foundation that actually helped thousands like Audrey during WWII and she is quoted saying, “I can testify to what UNICEF means to children, because I was among those who received food and medical relief right after World War II. I have a long-lasting gratitude and trust for what UNICEF does.”
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
As sickening as the mob is that overran our Capitol building on January 6, 2021, I am oddly grateful for it.
Terrible crisis always brings with it amazing opportunity.
This crisis has brought into stark reality the ways in which our country has been infiltrated by anti-democratic fascism. Thousands have been radicalized by the ongoing lies perpetrated by Trump, Trumpism, Fox News, and all the social media platforms that were allowed to run unchecked over the last four years.
Katherine Belew, author of Bring the War Home (a treatise on the reality of the white power movement that extends all the way back to the aftermath of the Viet Nam war) writes that law enforcement and media in the U.S. have looked the other way at domestic terrorism, defining violence perpetrated by angry white men as “lone wolf” types of events. She shows that these anti-democratic, pro white-power groups, essentially Nazi-like in their beliefs, are actually deeply embedded in our culture. There aim is to OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT and to create what they call a transnational white country (excluding any kind of person who is “not white”). Unsure about whether a group is patriotic or not – look for the Nazis. If there are Nazis or Nazi-like rhetoric involved, be sure the group is NOT patriotic!
The ideology of Trumpism, America First, anti-immigrant, anti-black and indigenous peoples, is not conservative. It is radical, and its aim is to de-stabilize and ultimately dismantle the institutions that have governed this country since its inception in 1776.
Why on earth, then, would I say there is silver lining to this horrific event?
The way I see it – the reality is no longer hidden. It is no longer possible to discount Trump and his extremist followers as “patriotic Americans who are exercising their free speech rights”. The President of the United States incited violence. He supported an insurrection. We saw it happen. It cannot be denied.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s powerful condemnation of Trump and of the invasion of the U.S. Capitol compares what happened to the Nazi’s Kristallnacht – the Night of the Broken Glass – the ominous beginning of the rise of Hitler’s legions. His video is well worth watching. Look him up on Youtube.
Our democracy held, and swift change has followed. No more Twitter, no more Facebook, no more access to social media by President Trump. The “free-speech app” Parler was shut down when Amazon removed its access to its servers. Large corporations are informing elected officials who objected to the state’s electoral votes in the House and Senate that they would not be receiving campaign donations. The FBI began investigations into hundreds of people who appeared in video on the Capitol assault, and arrests have begun. Trump may be impeached for a second time – and this time he could be convicted.
As we enter a new year, a new administration, and new hope for a different future, I am glad that the reality of these extreme groups has been revealed. Hidden, it was hard to believe. Out in the open, we can see the reality, and we can begin to change it.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
What a time we are in, my friends – what a time! Surely this moment in history is one that will be dissected and studied and torn apart and rehashed again and again in years to come – and yet here we are, living it day to day. Who could have known that we would still be separated when the pandemic began to affect all of our lives in March – now it is six months later, and we do not know how long we will need to continue with the new behaviors that are required to maintain our own health and the health of others – masks, social distancing, hand washing being the activities that are proven to result in protection.
I know this has been tremendously hard for many of us – I would venture to say for all of us – for different reasons. For some it is the pain of living alone, for some it is the terror of getting this virus, for some it is the loss of face-to-face church, for some it is the loss of being with children and grandchildren. For some it has been the loss of the ability to earn a living, for some it has been the loss of the joyful experience of making music together. I am sure that each one of you can identify a personal impact that COVID-19 has had on your day-to-day life.
The response many of us have to all this is to worry. We worry about what may happen tomorrow; we fret over what could happen, might happen, won’t happen, will happen – we spend so much time and energy on events THAT MAY NEVER HAPPEN.
We have three possible ways to address time. Some of us spend way too much time in the land of If Only – – if only I had done that, or not done this – maybe things would be different now. Some of us spend way too much time in the land of What If – this or that might happen or not happen. We fret about the future – a future that does not exist!
The place that we are in now – the Land of Now, of Present Time – is the only time that we have. Surely we know that we are not guaranteed another day of life – and that we can never reclaim time that is past.
I invite you to take a breath, right now – to look around. Celebrate this moment. We are here. We are connecting in spite of the distance imposed by the circumstances of the pandemic. Notice what your eyes can see, what your ears can hear. We are here together, now, with the amazing opportunity through technology of being present together in spite of the physical distance many of us are living. I, for one, am more than grateful.
About Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Communications and relationship specialist, counselor, Imago Relationship Therapist, businesswoman, mother, proud native Nashvillian – in private practice for 30+ years. I have the privilege of helping to mend broken hearts. Contact me at http://www.susanhammondswhite.com.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please….. Give HerSavvy cr
That was the title of a presentation I shared several years ago with the incredible women of the Breakfast Club of Nashville. I am not a prolific writer and am often stymied to find inspiration as to what to write for my HerSavvy post. I certainly wanted to stay away from politics… That’s why I am often late posting my submission and I’m late again. Yesterday, however, I was blessed with great inspiration.
My presentation to the club was about my practice of CranioSacral Therapy. As a Licensed Massage Therapist, I have been practicing this very special form of healing bodywork for almost 20 years. A very light touch form of work, CST, addressing the cerebrospinal fluid, reaches into the body and can help release deep seated discomfort (aka “pain”) resulting from physical injury, emotional injury or a combination of the two.
We don’t always realize that an accident causing physical injury can, and I believe, usually does result in an emotional component as well. CST can restore balance to the body and two of my clients yesterday experienced radical changes in their bodies as the result of this kind of release. Each described what was, in their words, a life changing breakthrough. What a wonder!!! This didn’t happen over night, of course. But in a remarkably short period of time, we, I say WE, made an amazing difference in each of their lives.
Over the years, I have witnessed so many of these miracles, more than I can count. I am just the messenger and I am blessed.
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
You know how I love my hummingbirds, so I’d begun to get concerned. I put my feeders out in the spring and looked forward to sighting my “usual suspects” enjoying the lovingly prepared nectar. Alas, nothing. No visitors. Some time passed, I changed the food out faithfully, and, finally, one of the precious little ruby-throats showed up. Hooray!!!
Days turned into weeks, and, still, just my one little friend came by, and only occasionally. I had gotten used to at least several of the little charmers flitting and fluttering and chasing each other around. “How do I know it was the same and only one?” you may ask. I dunno how I know. I just do. After several years of hosting, I feel I can tell one from another, and this teeny one kept coming back all by itself. I’m sure having no competition was nice for a while, but it had to get kinda lonely and I was getting nervous. After all, with the changes in the environment, climate and the like, not to mention the Coronavirus, well…
I got busy and did some research. I found an article at the Perkypet website. They’ve been making bird houses and doing the bird thing since 1958:
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, NY, is a terrific reference on all things birding, and they had this to say about the hummingbirds, “As you know, bird populations can fluctuate considerably from year to year. Only if this trend were to persist on a much wider scale for multiple years would it likely indicate a larger problem for the species. It is also true that what is happening in one location isn’t necessarily indicative for the species overall.”
Made me feel better.
According to Emily Gonzalez, UT/TSU Extension and Marcia L. Davis, UT/TSU Extension Master Gardener in their publication, Hummingbird Gardening In Tennessee:
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Calendar
Typically, you will attract the most hummers into your yard during midsummer after young hummingbirds fledge and during fall migration when people see large numbers of ruby-throats at nectar-bearing flowers and hummingbird feeders. Fewer hummers are seen in spring.
By understanding the annual activity cycle of ruby-throats, you can create a flower garden emphasizing nectar-bearing hummingbird plants that bloom and attract the most hummers during the two migration periods: spring and midsummer through early fall. These are the two periods when the most hummingbirds will visit your yard, and providing an abundance of nectar during these times will help keep them well fed.
SPRING MIGRATION: Late March Through Mid-May
The earliest spring migrants arrive in Tennessee by late March. Though many people may not see their first hummingbird until about the second week in April, the migrants will continue to pass through until approximately mid-May. The timing of migration is why it is important to put hummingbird feeders up by April 1 each year.
So, it seems I’ve been doing the right things. Maybe I’ve just been a bit overanxious. I have actually seen another ruby-throat buzzing around. They chase each other around and I sometimes wonder how either gets sufficient nourishment, but the feeders do empty out. All of this information made me think, however. The maintenance crew at my condo has been doing some major “pruning” and, even, in my opinion, indiscriminate tree removal. They’ve been adjusting for the internet the association put into service last year and some condos have had problems using it. So sad. I don’t use that service so it’s not an issue for me, but the crew has been doing some major tree hacking.
Fall migration is when you will see the most hummingbirds. The population is greatest in late summer because of the addition of recently hatched young birds. Each successful nest usually produces two young hummers.
Hummingbirds must constantly replenish their fat reserves during migration. They feed heavily on flower nectar and sugar water from feeders as they continue on their journey. Planting a garden with lots of nectar rich hummingbird favorites that bloom during this period will attract migrants.
In contrast to spring when migrating hummers pass through an area quickly because they’re in a hurry to get to the breeding grounds, fall migration is more leisurely and stretched out over a longer period of time. This means better hummingbird watching with more birds. Migrant hummer numbers often peak between mid-August and early September in Tennessee.
Jan is a singer, a songwriter, a licensed body worker specializing in CranioSacral Therapy, and a teacher. She is an advocate for the ethical treatment of ALL animals and a volunteer with several animal advocacy organizations. She is also a staunch believer in the need to promote environmental responsibility.
Like what you’ve read? Feel free to share, but please… Give HerSavvy credit. Thanks!
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Susan Hammonds-White, EdD, LPC/MHSP
Jan Schim
Norma Shirk
Renee Bates
Barbara Dab
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