Mrs. Robin Birdie outside the back door and I are having words. Her biological need to yell at me when I come outside and do something anywhere in the yard is not connecting with my reassuring explanations that I am not touching anything that belongs to her, namely her nest or eggs, and that I am actually bringing food out to the feeders. And, I tell her, she is not the only birdie in the yard, by the way.Man, when she yells at me, it's like when you know your own mom's voice cutting through a crowd of strangers when you're being naughty; there's dozens of other birds nearby chattering away, but I can pick her out of the crowd and I know I am busted and she's letting me have it. Sheesh.April wraps up tomorrow, and can I just say it's been a grand month? I had a birthday "intervention" and received strands of pearls from sweet friends, and got to wade in some ocean tides, wander amidst loads of flowers, hug my Mom on her birthday, kiss both my grandmothers, laugh at Wings with Liann like it was old times, watch Corrina yell at squirrels, slurp oysters with my dad, hang with Michael and Joanna, and get tackled by two nephews and a niece. I told my chiropractor that whatever being pounced on by two seven-year-olds and an almost-four-year-old cost me in my spinal alignment was more than made up for by the restored glow in my soul.I had a mailbox and Facebook account overflowing with birthday love, and my own crock of cheese fondue yesterday at a special birthday lunch. Oh, fondue joy...Plus, I got a great new straw hat. Now when I pull weeds in the yard and bop around to my new iPod, I look like the true crazy old lady in the neighborhood. Right on!
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for such dear friends and precious family. I am so, so blessed!
I have lots of things to share. Each day. Things that are interesting or funny or poignant. To me, anyway.Problem with posting? I am an English major. Writing must be well-constructed, worthy of my typing time, and have a beginning, middle and end. Things like exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement. Okay, I know. It's just a blog. But I like all those words :)I have made a few decisions in the past couple months about changes in myself and my approach to the world, so I guess this could be one, too. Short blog posts. Quick and dirty. Spurt words and ideas and happenings out there. Increased frequency, lessened pondering.Here goes.There's a robin's nest outside my back door. I discovered the nest when I got home from a trip week before last. I peeked out the back door and saw something flapping in the porch light. Just up to the left, carefully constructed above the porch light itself, was a nest obviously made from the weedy things in my backyard. Some of the longer weeds were making shadows and noise in the light and wind. Poor robin mama. She had a nice long stretch of no one here while she built the thing, completely unaware that it was right outside the back door. Now, I have to go in and out of that door, which means she gets spooked, flies off, bird curses at me a bit, and waits a while before she comes back to the nest. Happens when I open the blinds or walk too near the glass in the door, too. Poor thing.I peeked into the nest about a week ago (had to get step ladder) and saw two very blue eggs. I am guessing there are more now, and they are closer to hatching, because she is on the nest more consistently and doesn't take as long to come back after she flies off. I hope I have some baby birdies out there soon!Speaking of baby animals, why is it so much more fun to say, "Baby duck!" really loudly, than "Duckling!"? And "Baby cow!" instead of "Calf!"? One of life's little mysteries. Just like me :)
Regular visitors here know Timmy. His mom and dad, Lara and Marshall, are dear friends. They had to say goodbye to Timmy when he passed away in January, but the sweetest memories of Timmy are firmly planted in many hearts here, including mine. When I spoke at Timmy's service, there was no way to list every single thing I treasured about him and my time with the Elfstrands. One that I didn't get a chance to mention, but that still makes me grin out of nowhere, is recalling waiting for Timmy during Lara's pregnancy, and the way we would catch up on how big Timmy was in her tummy. I traveled frequently when Lara was expecting, on trips from two days to three weeks, and I would race to her desk when I returned to catch up on the latest baby news. Since almost everything I talk about revolves around food, of course the shorthand we began to use to talk about how big Timmy was growing, based on how far along Lara was in the pregnancy, was food-oriented. Fruit-oriented, to be exact.Lara sat behind a desk, just outside the president's office, that had a chest-high counter around it. After I got home from a trip, in my gentle, subtle way, I would race up and go slamming into the counter, drop my head over the edge, and peer down at Lara: "Orange?" She would stare up at me and grin: "Tangerine."So Timmy was big as a tangerine at that point. Cool.Sometimes the exchange happened in the staff kitchen while Lara was calmly trying to make a cup of tea. I would careen around the corner, leap into the kitchen, eyes wide, and ask, "Cantaloupe?"She would tilt her head a little, think a second, and smile. "Honeydew!"Yeah!Various exchanges of fruit and legume (in the itty bitty stage) happened like this. A round of applause, please, at this moment, for the fact that Lara never ordered a restraining order against me for being so crazy excited about their baby.Thus, as you can predict, when Timmy finally arrived, I couldn't send a baby congratulations card like a normal person. Oh, no. I had to write some haiku.Yes. About Timmy. And food :) So, in honor of the smiles you still bring me, Timster, here's your haiku. Hope Jesus whispers it in your ears and makes you giggle. Your mom and dad still laugh hard at me. And it's one of the best sounds in the world.
Like marshmallow peeps
So ridiculously cute
That Elf Baby is
Chocolate sprinkles
Ah, so happy, so playful
Compare in no way
To his gumdrop nose
His shiny sugarplum eyes
His delicious smile
