A Special Day

When God Created Mothers
by Erma Bombeck

When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into his sixth day of “overtime” when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”

And the Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this order?
· She has to be completely washable, but not plastic;
· Have 180 movable parts... all replaceable;
· Run on black coffee and leftovers;
· Have a lap that disappears when she stands up;
· A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair;
· And six pairs of hands.”

The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands... no way.”

“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord. “It’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have.”

“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. “One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, ’What are you kids doing in there?’ when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn’t but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say, ’I understand and I love you’ without so much as uttering a word.”

“Lord,” said the angel, touching His sleeve gently, “Go to bed. Tomorrow...”

“I can’t,” said the Lord, “I’m so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick... can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger... and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower.”

The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. “It’s too soft,” she sighed.
“But she’s tough!” said the Lord excitedly. “You cannot imagine what this mother can do or endure.”

“Can it think?”

“Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise,” said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You You were trying to push too much into this model.”

“It’s not a leak,” said the Lord. “It’s a tear.”
“What’s it for?”
“It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.”

“You are a genius,” said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. “I didn’t put it there,” He said.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !

Fridays are Golden

I thought you might enjoy seeing Ellie and Lucy when they were younger. This is a studio shot of them when Lucy was four months old and Ellie was two.

Their basic personalities shine through this photograph. Ellie is looking at me as if to say, "Is this all right, Mom? Am I doing it right? Oh, I hope I'm doing it right. I've never done this and I'm a little nervous." Lucy, on the other hand, is looking at the photographer as if to say, "Am I in the center? Is this my best side? Don't forget I'm the most important. This is what the people came to see."

Photograph by: Photographs by Michael

We had a repairman in the house yesterday. He kept going outside for materials and coming back inside. For a while the girls followed him from the door to the stairs; then waited for him to come back down. Finally bored of watching and following him, the girls found better spots.

Ellie chose the floor near the hallway.




Lucy decided she might as well be more comfortable, so she chose one of the beds.

We had several inches of rain last week. Normally we would have hiked to one of the waterfalls to see the increased flow. However, we missed a week or so of driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway so we decided to drive up there. We weren't disappointed. Spring is definitely emerging at the higher elevations. What a treat! I'll share more pictures next week, but this will whet your appetitite.

This weekend is Mother's Day. I believe it is a day to celebrate women, mothers or not. If you have a mother, grandmother, aunt, or special woman who helped shape your life, tell her so. Let her know how much she means to you.

Have a wonderful weekend. Play, laugh, and love those around you. Tell your friends and loved ones how much you really care for them.

Bird Quiz Follow-up

The mystery bird is indeed a leucistic female Purple Finch. Of course, we named her Leuci. We are so original with names.

I agree that the bird looks a great deal like a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but she was much too small to be a grosbeak. Additionally, the beak is much more like a Purple Finch. And finally, I sent the photographs to experts who confirmed it to be a Purple Finch.

Here is a normal female Purple Finch at our feeder:

And here is a female alongside a male Purple Finch photographed in the rain.

We saw Leuci for only three days and have not seen her in a week. I had rather hoped she might stay around.

Thanks for your guesses. You figured it out pretty quickly.

Bird Quiz - a Rare Bird

Have you ever caught a brief glimpse of a bird flying by, and your mind is several degrees slower than your eyes? You know you have never seen that bird before, in real life or in picture, but it went by so fast you have a difficult time identifying any features that might help. "Uh, it was sort of white" is not quite enough information.

Start with size: it was somewhat larger than a goldfinch or pine siskin, but smaller than a towhee.
Color: Mostly white with dark brown/black on the head and wings

You ponder what the bird might be and pray it will pass by your field of vision again. You watch all day and nothing appears remotely similar to the bird. Another "WOW" moment shot in the dust.

The next day you are out with the camera. You cannot believe your good fortune. There is the very bird you saw yesterday. There's no one there so you whisper, "Do you see that?" to yourself and slowly raise the camera.

You are delighted to have a couple of photographs to help identify the bird. You receive an extra surprise later that day when you glance outside and see the bird at one of the feeders!!! Unbelievable!

And, wonder of wonders...the bird returns to your feeders the next day. A few more photographs to help with the identification.

You are pretty much certain what the bird is, but (having been wrong before) you send the photographs to an expert. The expert sends the photographs to other experts. Eventually you receive an email with a dozen other emails forwarded from expert to expert about your bird. They all agree that you have a rare bird. And they are all thrilled that the bird has been seen.

And (with all due modesty), they agree with your preliminary identification.

SO...CAN YOU IDENTIFY THIS RARE BIRD?

Counting Birds

We had our county spring bird count on Saturday. I did not get to go for a walk. Why? Because I was assigned to be a feeder watcher. The bird watching community is very surprised that we have a pair of Red Crossbills that have been in our woods since March. In fact, they are displaying some courtship behavior and may just be a nesting pair. So I was assigned to stay in my home and hope to see the crossbills along with other birds that visit. There were not on the list in our county.

I knew they would be coming to the feeders. We see the pair many times every day and they stay at the feeder for long periods of time. I didn't have to wait long.

I saw him in the tree:


And she was there as well:

For a brief time in early April, we actually had at least five Red Crossbills visiting us. We saw three males and two females, often at the same time. Here are the three males:

In this photograph you can see five crossbills at the same feeder. (Taken in early April)

As quickly as they came, all of the crossbills left a few days later, except for the original male and female. They appear to have taken up residence. Oh, wouldn't it be a sight to see fledgling Red Crossbills?

Here is the list of birds I saw at our feeders on Saturday in my 2 hours of official watching:

2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

2 Downy Woodpecker

1 Hairy Woodpecker

3 Pileated Woodpecker

5 American Crow (flying over)

4 Carolina Chickadee

6 Tufted Titmouse

3 White-breasted Nuthatch

1 Carolina Wren

1 Yellow-throated Warbler

2 Pine Warbler

2 Northern Cardinal

1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak

1 Eastern Towhee

3 Purple Finch

10 Pine Siskins

18 American Goldfinch

2 Red Crossbills

I think I was pretty lucky to be assigned as a feeder watcher. Many parts of the county had rain and the watchers were disappointed that they didn't see some of the birds they knew to be there. I'm just glad my crossbills showed up. While the reports are not tallied, it seems that most of the Pine Siskins have left the area. We are one of the few remaining gathering places. Here's hoping they will depart soon and we can hang the rest of our feeders.

Lady Jane Cardinal and the Crossbill

One of our female Northern Cardinals is easy to identify because of her color. She has much more gray and less reddish-brown than is typical. At our house, identification means the bird gets a name. This one is Lady Jane. She is also much less aggressive than most cardinals. On this particular day, she was eating at a feeder when a molting Red Crossbill flew up.


She paid no attention at all to the crossbill.

The crossbill felt obliged to challenge her, but Lady Jane was unfazed.

"Oh," said the crossbill. "So there!"

Lady Jane leans in as if to say she isn't bothered at all by crossbill.

Peace established, the two sat side by side eating.

I love watching the birds interact in the trees and at the feeders. While the results are often predictable, sometimes there can be big surprises.

Fridays are Golden

Today is May Day. I don't think that means much to Americans anymore. When I was a child in school we spent weeks and weeks practicing for our May Day program. Each class would perform a special dance from a certain period in American history. The eighth-grade girls had the supreme honor of plaiting the May Pole with ribbons. The girls wore beautiful pastel dresses and weaved the ribbons in and out as they danced, always to the tune of "English Country Garden." I was always a bit disappointed when they finished. I thought the May Pole looked better with the ribbons flowing down rather than plaited against the pole.

We loved the May Day festivities, not only for the fun and the costumes, but also for the fact that May Day meant the school year was almost completed.

Photograph from Wikipedia

Now, on to the Golden Girls. The girls do not have free rein in our house. They are not allowed in the wing that has the guest bedroom, library, and my study. Often when I am in my study I glance up to see a Golden at the hallway entrance. More often than not it is Ellie, checking to see if I'm still in here and if I might come out and play.

Although they are not allowed to play ball upstairs, Ellie always brings up a tennis ball. Most of the time she carries two of them around. She uses them to muffle the sound when she "talks" to me.

Whenever Lucy realizes that Ellie has left a room, she goes out in search of her. Here they both stand, pleading with me to leave the study.

The Golden Girls are almost always near each other, often side by side. This is instigated by Lucy who will go wherever Ellie is and lie down beside her.

Lucy is falling asleep. Soon she will plop her head on Ellie and use her for a pillow.

I hope this first day and weekend of May brings joy to your life. Whatever May Day means to you, celebrate your life and the lives of those whom you love. This wonderful month of May will bring us the spring that April flirted with.

Enjoy this weekend and do at least one thing that brings you joy. Do something nice for someone else, and do something nice for yourself.

Stay safe and happy.