Sometimes life can be hard. That's the lesson I learned from the whole 'Robin Story'. :-( I guess you can deduce from what I've already said that this is not going to be my usual happy, upbeat robin story. I'm reduced this morning to forcing myself to find something to be positive about in all of this.
I guess I can be happy that hubby snuck up there in the tree and took these beautiful photos of her nest, with the gorgeous turquoise eggs in it. And they are some beautiful shots of her finished work, all perfectly placed in the branches, with the egg babies safely tucked inside.
The rest of the story...after the bad storm with tornado winds that hit us suddenly here in Massachusetts the other day...is not good. :-( I think I told you that during the storm, with the wind and rain whipping the trees around in the backyard, the robin nest took a beating. Part of the nest was hanging sideways at one point, and mama robin was making all kinds of noise. We could hear her above the sound of the whipping winds.
It doesn't look so perfectly sculptured anymore...
...and I guess you can also see...*sigh*...there's no eggs in it anymore either. :-(
They're on the ground...
...all broken up. :-( It must have been a long drop from here...
...because now all that's left is remnants of eggs...
And WARNING...if those didn't make you cry, this one might...it did me. :-(
That makes two years in a row now that mama robin has chosen this tree to put her beautiful nest in. And two years in a row that a sudden storm in the backyard ripped up her work. :-( When I was thinking about it, I wondered how I would handle this kind of disaster if it had been my babies?!
And it seems so sad that there's one egg on the ground that still looks like it's perfectly intact.
We didn't dare touch it...Do robins sit on eggs that are on the ground?! We didn't know if there was still a chance for this little one or not...I can tell you though, that mama robin flew off yesterday afternoon and I haven't seen her again.
As sad as this is, I've learned some unforgettable lessons from this robin in all of this. Lessons of tenacity, 'stick-to-a-tiveness', patience, courage, and...how to move on. She's probably somewhere right now preparing another nest. (In a safer spot I hope!) And I'm left with a feeling of sadness that I'm sure will lift in a couple of days...especially as I see mama robin swooping all over the backyard looking for food for her new babies. {That's what happened last year}
Funny how life is full of lessons everywhere...even in disaster...If we take the time to learn them, I mean.
Take A Lesson From The Robin
I can learn a lesson
from the robins in the tree.
I can keep on going,
and let nothing bother me.
Watching from my window
as the mama made her nest,
I could see her hard work;
How she always gave her best.
Flying back and forth,
finding just the right nest twig.
If there was some music
it would be a great dance jig.
When the nest was perfect,
she was off to find a beau.
(Men today should take a clue,
Nest First!...The way to go!)
After Birdie dating,
(and she didn't have to beg!)
There was a lot of sitting
on a beautiful turquoise egg!
There actually were three
that she sat on...come what may!
I can take a lesson
from the patience of her day.
I thought of just how happy
those egg babies must have been.
Having mama always with them;
Sat on by a loving kin.
But then there was disaster!
A bad storm to my backyard.
Watching winds tear down her work...
emotionally hard.
As I heard her making noises
for her babies, all now dead,
I also learned a lesson;
from my heart now to my head.
The lesson is that life
sometimes takes a crooked turn,
and it will be about the way
you cope, and what you learn.
When the storm was over,
and her call no longer came,
She flew off to begin again.
A story all the same.
She'll build another nest,
and put her loss behind.
And I have learned the lesson,
and I'll live my life in kind.
Sometimes the past is daunting,
and sometimes you must move on.
There 'can' be happy future,
even though the past is gone.
It's that time of year again!! :-) The time of year when my attention span becomes the size of a gnat, and all I do is stare into the T.V., with my head turning to the left.....and then turning to the right....and then turning to the left...and then....Well, you get where I'm going with this, right?! LOL It's time for the French Open Tennis Tournament!!!!
It actually started yesterday, but I was so engrossed in finishing my talk that I totally forgot it was coming on!!! I know!.......I know!!!!!! LOL How is that even possible for a tennis nut like me?!!...But make no mistake, I KNOW it's on now!!! :-] In fact, I already watched Schiovone beat Melony Oudin this morning!...She steam-rolled her!
My hubby is not the least bit interested in my beloved tennis right now. {Although if nothing else is on, and he doesn't need a nap, he'll watch certain matches with me. He has a couple of people he asks about occasionally.} His attention is totally on the garden he's developing in the backyard...and, of course, the hummingbird feeder!
Over the next few days I'm going to be playing music, and conversations I had with hubby, as background sounds while I show you all of the plants and flowers he's developing back there. He's gone 'Garden Man Mad'!!! LOL He even came in from outside yesterday....'No Girl-Land', I call it!! ^_^ ...and started talking all about how the neighbors have had the nerve to plant 'already grown' plants in their gardens! He's feeling very proud of himself that his were just seeds....and now? They're A-L-I-V-E!!!!!...and steadily growing!
Of course, the plant talk has been interrupted on occasion with hummingbird feeder talk!...He boiled up his own nectar yesterday. That's the clear stuff in the feeder...
He assures me that, come rain or.....or...well, more rain, frankly! LOL...the hummingbirds are gonna come running to this feeder today!! "They're gonna bring all of their hummingbird buddies, and have a party out there!!"...That's HIS story! My story is that he's gonna have a long Spring and Summer, boiling new batches of nectar twice a week, for our 'snooty' NO-SHOW hummingbirds!! LOL
Oh Well...he may not have hummingbirds, but he does have the camera! And boy! he really gave it a work-out this weekend, photographing the plants and flowers that he's growing!...And although there were a few random 'Uh! Why did you take a picture of this?' comments from me, I think he did a pretty good job! LOL Why did I ask that?! Look at this shot. I mean, it's a pretty tree...but in the dark...and rain...it looks just like...
...a tree! LOL
But this shot is gorgeous!!
It's the robin nest that's in the tree right next to the house! It looks really well worked on, but all day yesterday it just sat there without even one robin visitor! I mean, I saw the robins. They were pecking around all over the backyard. But not one of them even looked in the direction of the nest! O_0 What's that about?!!
I was expecting some cute little blue egg photos pretty soon!!!....Well, guess what?! :-) My robins may be acting coy, but my friend's robins have been hard at work! Look at these photos she got!!!
Is that cool or what?!!!! :-] I almost wish I knew a good 'robin being born' song! Well, I don't.......but I do think this one is appropriate! :-) And if you can listen to it without smiling you're a better girl than me this morning!!! LOL
Okay, An older poem from a while ago, and I'm off to start my day. Have a good day everybody!! :-]
A New LifeThere's a new one on the way,with a frightened, teenage mom,making all her life's decisions,void of playfulness and calm.There's a little one now coming.Sacrifice will be the keyto a happy, joyful life,for this little He or She.There's another life that's ending-name is Teenager' and 'Child';Now replaced with 'Mom' and 'Mother',Sacrificed may be her smile-for at least a little while.
DovieMoon's nest photo reminds me of one of the wonderful things about enduring a hard winter with piles and piles of snow....the fact that one day all of the snow will stop falling from the sky, the backyard will watch it melt away with the Spring sunshine, and the beautiful red-breasted Robins will return to my backyard!!! :-]
I know....you thought you were going to come by the blog this morning and see me ONCE AGAIN talking about how much I loathe and despise old cars and shifty-mouthed Mechanics, who try to deceive you into paying more than what a job is worth. But Ha! Ha! the joke is on you! LOL
I am not going to talk about that car....or even my dryer, which by the way, now needs me to plan a funeral for it!...I am going to talk about my love of a Robin!
No! Not this Robin!....Although I sure could have used him this weekend....POW!.....WHAM! {You know what I'm talking about too! LOL}
No, I'm talking about this Robin....
I was lamenting the other day about how the only critter I've seen in my backyard lately, even though the weather seemed to be trying to clear, was a lonely squirrel. There were no birds swooping and playing, or singing and hunting for food, like usual this time of year...But that same day we got another taste of winter! A 'Springtime Snow Storm' the weather man called it...trying to make it sound all whimsical-like!...I say BAH!
But yesterday, with still a bit of a chill in the air, but loads of sun all over my snow-less backyard, I saw Robins!! Tons of them! They were all over the backyard, hopping around, pecking at the ground; standing still, looking around, scoping out the territory. It was a beautiful sight!
It was a welcome pause from all the craziness that has been my life the last few days!!
Those Robins were big...and fat too! Maybe they were all pregnant mamas looking for a place to lay their babies down. {Mamas in a group can get it done!!! LOL} It reminded me that I had to look up some information online about Robins and their nesting habits.
I told you about those beautiful gourd birdhouses that SharonsCustomArtwork has. I wanted to get one to hang in the tree out in the backyard. But the hole seemed too small for my Robins...and I didn't know if Robins would nest inside of a gourd!
I have to thank her for her willingness to help me out too! She convoed me to let me know that she could make the hole larger for me, if I needed her too...I mean, how beautiful would this Sunflower Painted Gourd birdhouse be, hanging in a tree right where I could take pictures?! It could be the jump-start to a beautiful Season! :-)
So, I googled it!! {I love saying that now...that I, Miss Computer illiterate extraordinaire, 'Googled' something! LOL} And guess what I found out?! Birdhouses 101!..."These songbirds like to stay in open spaces like gardens, farms, meadows and woodlands but they can also stay in the bird houses of your backyards. Robins can nest in artificial structures provided for them or even just about any convenient place they can find..."
But then there was a glitch...."...Robins don’t like to live in cavities hence, they stay away from boxes. You can, therefore, provide them with a nest shelf where female robins can build her nest. Be sure to include a slope and overhanging roof to protect them from the rain..."
Now I'm not sure whether to get the gourd or not!...What would you do?! Get them a gourd with big holes, or let well enough alone and just enjoy them from afar?! :-/ ... Hard to resign myself to the latter though, because they're so PRETTY!!!
And tanyabond, with her Two Robins Singing..., knows what I mean!
Oh Well! I guess, in the scheme of things, this is not that much of a problem. Have you been looking at the news lately????!!!!!!!....If not....DON'T!!! LOL The word MELTDOWN could have a whole lot of meanings if you do!
{Robins 6 by margiemoore}
Hmmmmm.....that reminds me...I need to get me some breakfast! ^_^ And just go look out the window at this beautiful snow-less sky! Have a good day everybody!!
Describe The Sky
Evoking awe and bouts of wonder.
Such inspiration, you just want to cry.
With birds high-flying, and winds a blowing,
what words would you use to describe the sky?
Would you say, whether clouds are upon it,
that it blankets a wondrous space?
Or would you be more awed and humbled,
hoping there you would find God's face?
I would say that when standing quiet,
looking up at the sun or moon,
there's a feeling of peaceful oneness
that I hope won't go away too soon.
Evoking bouts of awe and wonder
was probably what it was designed to do;
That is, besides giving off light and weather,
and the most spectacular view!
{By the way, you can click on most of the photos in this post to take you to their source.)
