I was two years old when my family began visiting the San Juan Island’s in my father’s boat. When we were there, I was in paradise and experiencing a true miracle, a place where my older sisters and brother always played with me, and my parents never disagreed.

My life has now come full circle. In moving up here, to live on John’s Island with Fred and the boys, I am once again experiencing the miracle of the San Juan Island’s.

With a need to validate my decision to close the gallery and go virtual, I experienced a Christmas miracle that proved to me I was in the right place, and, this was the right time. It all began as we opened our gifts and a hummingbird struck our window.

Now you might ask,”How does a hummingbird, striking the window, validate my decision, let alone, qualify as a miracle?

If this was where the story ended, you’d be correct in questioning my rationale, but, this story has just begun, so please, read on!

Meet post-miracle Jesus ( I use the Hispanic pronunciation, as I am sure he forgot to fly south for the winter, and, after all, it was Christmas morning.)

Here’s is what is soon to be an annual Christmas tale and what happened on the fateful day…

First, there was a thump on the window. I ran outside to see what made the noise and saw a little hummingbird laying on the steps.

Remembering what a friend told us, “Icing a bird’s head after a strike could save its life, because it is the swelling of the brain that often kills it, not the strike.”, I ran back into the house, tore open the freezer and pounced upon Fred’s ice cream sandwich, at which point he exclaimed,”Hey, what are you doing with that?”

It is important reader for you to realize at this point, that replacing said ice cream sandwich is no easy feat when you live on John’s island. It requires a row boat,  power boat, favorable weather, several gallons of gas, about forty-five minutes of time and a great deal of physical effort!

Fred’s sacrifice was great indeed, but, the ice cream sandwich was the only thing I could find to put on little Jesus’s head without injuring him. Ignoring Fred’s question while making an indentation to the sandwich, I ran back outside.

I then leaned down the steps to apply the Miracle-Sandwich to his little noggin (Jesus’s not Fred’s). Not having thought out the effect of my position, the blood began rushing to my head.

My only goal was not to squish him by falling over or by applying too much pressure as I balanced precariously on the steps. After a few moments, with wide-eyes, he (Jesus not Fred) looked at me and we stared at each other. Actually, it was with only one of his eyes because he was laying on his side.

Fred came outside to check out the situation and to document my handling of what was once his ice cream sandwich. Seeing that the situation was not hopeless, he assisted me by rolling Jesus into his hand for warmth.

As Jesus gained his wits and then stood on Fred’s hand, he (Fred not Jesus) quickly forgave me my indiscretions with the frosty treat. A short while later, Fred placed him on the deck table.  Jesus stood there for a few minutes, then flew to a near by tree where he hung out for about an hour. He then flew away.

I can’t help but think about what happened when Jesus returned home and tried to convince his partner about why he was late, about the miracle of the ice cream sandwich and the two friendly giants.

I think she believed him though, because when Fred and I took our walk that afternoon around the island, we both noticed that all the birds seemed a little bit more friendly and that Christmas Day seemed a bit brighter.

Now friends, one would think the miracle would end here, but there is more…

Our puppies, Castor-the-white and Pollux-the-black,

have their own version of “The Miracle of the Ice Cream Sandwich” because after I was done using the sandwich for Jesus, guess who got to eat to spoils! That’s right, the puppies had their first ice cream experience. A true doggy miracle moment!

Fred swears that he now sees Castor and Pollux trying to lure more birds to the window, so, we have bought two more ice cream sandwiches and are all living happily on John’s Island with hummingbirds and the like!

I am looking forward to keeping you all posted about art happenings and other miracles around the islands and wishing everyone a fantastic New Year!

Cheers,

Marita

PS

If you’d like to see more photos of John’s Island check out Fred’s web site http://www.houselphoto.com/photography.asp

To find out more about the San Juan Islands I find this to be a handy web site;   http://www.sanjuanisland.org/

Stayed tuned for the launch of the new web site for Benham Fine Art in Jan!