Now we see through a glass darkly

Now we see through a glass darkly
Helen Keller and her mother exemplified in the Miracle Worker

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Showing off Season?

I guess it must be nest showing season. I feel like I'm in a judging contest, or something. Motherhood is cross-species. Mrs Sparrow of Charlotte accosted me on the way to church, the way sparrows do. She wanted to show me her very creative location choice for her hatchlings.
It was exactly in the recesses of a street light. I was impressed, even though that would not have been my choice, had I been a bird and of nest building age and facility, still, I thought it was very resourceful;especially when she explained to me her reasoning.
I expressed to her my concern that it was too near the electricity which might pose a danger.
She said the current served a purpose for her in protecting her from predators who though they might be brave enough to chase them into that spot, might not be smart enough to avoid the current and be singed, if not killed altogether. I had not thought of that and said that it did make sense to me.
Her primary reason for choosing that spot was that she had intentions of having the most intelligent hatchlings she had ever laid.
She said that she would be able to read to her hatchlings and burn the midnight oil, thus giving herself more time with them to develop prowess and ingenuity. She said that she has a book of all of the facts that she neglected in each of the earlier seasons of "bird-rearing" and she reads it to them so as not to leave out one detail.
She intends for these hatchlings to be her best prepared ever and the streetlight helps her accomplish her goal.
How very different she is from Mrs. Robin, who has to run everything by Mr. Robin every season. Their relationship is good, but their hatchlings suffer. They spend hours on end bickering and fussing, this can't possibly be good for the hatchlings to see, but who am I to judge that.
Mrs. Robin is an awesome counselor and I cannot see how she finds the time to schedule in her sessions with me, with a high-maintenance family that she has and a husband that questions her every step.
I am grateful for her consideration to take me under her wing. The geese gave up after one attempt. It may be because, I just don't see them every day. They have very little patience for sullenness. Everytime I see them they make some sort of motion to let me know that I am the but of their jokes, since the rain incident.

The Cardinal Family

had made a habit of meeting up in the evergreen in front of the building, but because of their privacy, I was not up to making their acquaintance. They are beautiful and perhaps their beauty dissuaded me from pursuing them. Mrs Robin was very persistent with me that day. It seemed that she wanted to show me something and I followed her.
I was walking around the building and had almost past her and I just love how she caught my attention. Very carefully and stealthily, with barely a sound or a flutter, she leapt from branch to branch and I thought she was playing with me or something. "Wait", Wait" she said. She doesn't usually cause me to be late from my break, all birds are very timely, you know. (They don't even make the acquaintance of anyone who has no care for time) I was just about to leave her right there, when on the last branch she had leapt upon was the nest.
I had seen robins' nests before, but this one was special because of Mrs. Robins' special interest in me. Not ostentatious at all, with just the most impressive touches of color. She hadn't placed it in a bunch of leaves on that branch, just tucked on a bare branch which would eventually bloom with leafiness. At that moment it was the barest on the tree, just under some very leafy branches above it. After she showed me her nest she flew away, leaving me one minute to get to my desk...
Some things, Mrs. Robin doesn't say she just shows me. I later found out that when she flies like that, it means she intends me to do likewise. "If you fly like this you have just enough time to land at your desk at the correct time."

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Mrs. Robin

has read all the latest hatchling quarterly magazines and watches Dr. Martha Robin everyday, to stay up to date with the state of the art robin development.
I can't keep up with her, she is so witty and knowledgable of her job. I'll tell you more of that later...
Ordinarily, Mrs Robin doesn't trust the geese for anything but the latest gossip. She says that they are entirely too worldly, for her close association with them and far too lenient with their hatchlings, too. Her good breeding doesn't allow her to tell them that and dont you tell them either, they would be mortified. When she's with them she seems totally at ease and comfortable. They have taken her into their strictest confidence at times and would be appalled to know what she really thinks of their acquaintance.
That is really none of my business; except, as a mutual acquaintance of them both, so as not to offend either.
Mrs Robin, recently read in the Encyclopedia of the Well Bred Robin that what Mr Robin has been purporting for seasons about color choices is completely wrong for robin brain development. She went on and on to me that the dull colors make the children sullen and cross and has even, in rare occasions been implicated in some hatchlings pecking eachother out of the nest prematurely.
At first, Mr. Robin had no time for such chatter about new philosophies and they endured a week of heated arguments on the subject. They were truly at an impass.
Mr. Robin thought his wife had gotten this stuff from me and I didn't see them for a while as they visited the robin library for her to show him this in "robin scratch". Her words for how they write.
Mr. Robin conceded to higher learning. "Far be it from me", he said, "to hinder the progress of our species." Still, he had a hard time reconciling that it was good enough for their prior hatchlings...
They came to a compromise, just the same. The walls of the nest were brightened with tulip petals and the palest shades of dry grass were the bedding, for obvious reasons. She let him win on that. ;)

Everyday

I have a break at about 10 am or so and a few weeks ago, I started to notice some bird couples around our buildings. I have to call them different names, because I don't really know what they all are.
Young master bluejay took his new girlfriend home to meet his folks, just before Easter Sunday. They made sure I saw them, by flying right in front of me and giggling as they nearly hopped off the car and then giggled away into the brush. I haven't seen them to talk to since. It has been 2 days. They are usually very busy talking, or should I say cheeping at eachother. They haven't seemed to notice that I would like an update on what the folks thought.
Well, anyway, the robins have been together for a while. Since the teaparty, they follow me. Actually, Mrs. Robin follows me and Mr Robin follows Mrs. Robin as she follows me. He is not happy about our relationship. She doesn't really follow me, we just meet up together from time to time. She especially shows up, for instance, if she gets any inkling that I may be pacing for some reason. She's trying to show me how to keep my job. Humans don't pace at work, she told me. They may fret, but they don't pace. Okay, I said, and stopped pacing at once. Pacing is a very hard habit to stop, all of a sudden, so I am glad that I have Mrs. Robin to remind me of little things like that.
We have so many beautiful flowers budding in the courtyard and I was privileged to catch the happy couple shopping for the finishing touches on their nest. Mr. Robin, still doesn't know what to make of our relationship. He is very posessive of Mrs. Robin's time and thinks that the gossip that she and I share is undermining her responsibilities; getting ready to lay her eggs. This doesn't daunt her in the least. She has been through this egg thing a couple of times before; so it is no big deal to her.
The robins argue every day, because Mrs. Robin refuses to let Mr. Robin tell her the color scheme and he is very bossy. I noticed, though that he quickly gives in, if she can give him some good reason for her particular stem or leaf choice. He enjoys earth tones and thinks that hatchlings need as little color as possible, so they are inspired to eat, grow and fly off. Mother Robin is completely the opposite.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Chapter 1/ Mrs. Robins April Fool

When I walked outside, Mrs. Robin was in the tree. "The stuff the geese and ganders(they are liberated now) were saying has really gotten to me." She said, boldly, while petting and picking at her feathers to let me know what it means to get under her feathers.
I had never been reproved by a bird, before. I didn't know how to respond to her, even though I knew she was right. There was no preface and no preparation for her reproof, as people do. She just pulled out her right wing and pointed it in my face and said that the geese told her to talk to me and she did.
She said that she was watching me to see if I was sitting outside like I did with them, and she had reason to believe that what they had said to her was true.
With left wing on her hip, she gave me an ultimatum.
"I knew you would be out here, she said, the geese were right on the quill about you""At least, you did your hair, today, that says something."
I tried to ignore her, since the tea party with the crow she had kind of adopted me. Still, I am always offended at what she says to me. This time it was about the trees and walls and she tried to hide in the tree. She said I will not talk to you again until I see that you have mended your ways.
Even the robins are bad mouthing me. We are not bad mouthing you we are concerned...

jayne c walker's

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_________________________________________________________________________________________________<>Robins Don't LeanBluejays Don't Beg

For the Birds?

For the Birds?
click on the picture to for an Evvie story.

Sparrow's Spring nest

Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow were caught, by me yesterday, shopping together for a new home. They flitted and flirted, just outside my window. Talking and discussing and lovingly disagreeing, if not arguing the benefits and the pitfalls of living at our house.
Mrs. Sparrow was very impressed with the 2 "ready made" nests hung outside our window. Mr. Sparrow hadn't even thought of them as "ready-made" nests. He used them for the provision of building materials for the private home that he had in mind in a surprise and hidden place. He doesn't like the openness, at all, of our porch. It's much too populated. When Mr. Sparrow gets it into his mind to give his sweet chicky a peck, he wants the freedom to do it without a bunch of younguns peeking over the nest to see what comes next.
Mrs. Sparrow was impressed that the porch was fully protected from hailstones. We all know what happened to a great many of last years' nests in that surprise hailstorm we had. Male birds seem to have a very short memory for storms. They have only one thing in mind in the nest building season... 03/09