Every year Sophia and I think that Residency will be more "automatic", and less intense. It never is. Nothing bad happened, but this year we had two programs to manage, and that was intense indeed. No stories worth telling, except for the annual awards. You may remember last year's award, which I got because I was spied taking a nap in a hallway. This year it was about the weather. Last Tuesday we were leaving one of the campus buildings for the dining hall and the skies opened.
We waited for the initial cloudburst to end but then it morphed into a steady rain, and my umbrella was in the car. We had to cross a sizeable courtyard/plaza to get to the dining hall. I had an honor society initiation to conduct after dinner and did not want to look like a drowned rat.
At the entrance to the larger campus buildings we have 8-foot tables with water setups so people can refresh themselves during the day. These tables have plain white tablecloths covered with two large, decorative square cloths, one gold and one maroon (Norwich colors). I whisked the gold cloth off the table, put it over my head and made a run for the dining room. Someone there saw this large yellow thing flapping across the courtyard in the dark ...
I got the Flying Nun Award.
The second batch of baby robins is growing fast. FOUR of 'em. This morning two are starting to stretch shoulders and wings. Here's the facebook link.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.463999106946318.111309.100000086971614&type=1&l=c59547d7ad
And here are two of the best flower pictures I've ever taken. Absolutely no image "improvement" except for resizing to making uploading easier.
Oh, how I am regretting the loss of a photo op.
My good friend Kris Rowley came over yesterday to give a new home to a small, not thriving peegee hydrangea that I've been nursing along for a couple of years but really don't like. It's probably failing to thrive because it's too wet there, but also maybe because I don't pay much attention to it.
Be that as it may, it IS baby bird season, and as we were walking past the flower bed in front of the house, Kris exclaimed "You have a bird on your leg!" This was a great surprise, and it was hard to find the bird because it was toward the back of my (jeans-covered) leg. A baby chickadee. Hopping up my leg. Quickly and with some determination. (What will I do if it heads for my face or my head???).
Chickadees are not that big, and this was a cute and truly tiny bird. Kris was trying valiantly to get her phone out of her pocket, and on, and ready to take a picture. The bird had moved around my leg was on the front of the leg, about mid-thigh (perfect for a camera shot) but Kris couldn't get it framed properly. I must have moved a little because baby birdie flew off (not the strongest flier I've ever seen), fell into the ferns, ascended to the rough concrete foundation on the north side of the house (visualize a chickadee-sized climbing wall) and then flew to the birch tree, where it hid in the leaves.
I've never had a bird light on me before!! What a picture that would have been! That, and a picture of the look on Kris's face.
Earlier I'd been out in the yarn, doing some plant rearranging in between the rain showers, and I heard a loud "thwock" near the front door. Looked around, saw nothing. Heard it again, looked, and saw either Mama or Dad robin flying back to the fence. I had put the plexiglass back into the storm door so I could take more bird pix when the time comes. Behind the storm door is the house door with its glass window.
Clearly, the robin had seen its own reflection in the doorway, very close to the nest, and had attacked this "interloper". I opened the inside door and that has made the threat go away. Mama is still sitting, more quietly this time.
Yes, folks, Mom has returned to the nest for another round of baby-raising. I startled her away from under the eaves a few times over the weekend and finally took a judicious peek this morning. Sure enough, there she is. How do I know it's the same bird?
Because she looks just like before: April 27 Same sidewise look, head tilt, everything.
Further reports to follow, perhaps not quite so obsessively as before.
