I start with a smile.

Some of us are so busy in life, that they find it difficult to smile.

This guy, shall we call him Charly, illustrates his un-happiness at not finding food in the empty plate.

Charly is a Cape Weaver (Ploceus capensis) and he is obviously an expert table forager in the gardens of the Helderberg Farm. Just have a look at that angry face, and I can guarantee you that Charly did not think much about the diners that just left as they didn't leave even a crumb on the table. But yeah, such is bird life and I think it is also similar to our lives. Some people leave much for the birds on the tables, and at other times they leave nothing.

Just so, do we also sometimes hit a score and at other times we hit a dump. So, the score can bring a happy smile, and the dump makes us look like Charly's face. Lol. I am trying to get a smile here and I have used Charly as an example in this story. Much gloom is about the low Hive prices, and the poor world economy is also nothing to smile about unless you sit on a couple of a billion dollars in your bank account. But then you will also not be able to smile, as you will fear that your money will get stolen.

No coffee?

This is a good expression about the effect of the low Hive price :)

So disgusted Charly decided to move off, and he was replaced by these cute little Cape White-eyes (Zosterops virens).

But shame, they didn't have much time as they saw somebody else coming. So, they took off in a hurry.

And here is the reason for them flying away. A Cape Robin-chat (Cossypha caffra) and he would certainly damage the little white-eyes in his territory.

Look who returned to give me a dirty look seated on a chair, much closer to where I sat. I think he just wanted to remind me to leave him something, which of course my wife did when we left.

Some other birds that I saw on the road that leads to the farm.

This guy (2 shots) below, is called a Harrier Hawk (Polyboroides typus) and he sat at quite a distance on a tree in a neighboring farm.

He hardly sat when he took off again, and I was too slow on my zoom to get him in flight.

Finally, a Red-faced Mousebird (Urocolius indicus) sat on some syringa tree berries.

And that's it, I tried to get a smile at the first 4 photo story, as humor is a healing property. I read somewhere that laughter is very healthy as it opens up one's lungs and also has a very stimulating effect on the brain. I told you before that I have also a habit of laughing at myself. Not just silly laughter, but whenever I get something wrong, I always correct it or try to correct it at times but sometimes things cannot be corrected. So, if I cannot correct it I just move on.

The secret is to not worry about it as it will make you run around with a bag of regrets in a bag on your back. That bag was especially designed to store all one's regrets and they have a negative effect on one's thoughts. Friendliness and kindness also have a very beneficial influence to keep one's life balanced. So, don't come and say something bad about another person, unless the other person is also present. There are always 2 sides to a coin.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

Until next time, cheers!