One Strawberry; More of the Robins' Story.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014.

Good Morning, my beloved persons! 

It is cool this morning, a high of 65˚ is expected, plus some isolated sprinkles. The remaining horrid thunderstorms are slowly heading northeast, in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia at this moment, heading for South and North Carolinas. I am hoping that those storms will dissipate right now. Sometimes the storms go quickly by, and sometimes they linger so! 

A couple of days ago, I went out for the mail, and spied one lone strawberry under one of the three strawberry plants! It wasn't bright red, but I thought that before the birds would get it, I would. It was light red, and so delicious when I ate it in the house! There's nothing like home-grown produce!   

Today, few minutes ago, I went out to the mailbox to mail an envelope, and stopped at that lovely clump of very large clover leaves and large white clover blossoms. I picked a little bouquet and brought it in. So pretty, not even as large as the palm of my hand was the bouquet, but it provides a lift of my spirits. The clovers themselves are almost the size of quarters. 

On the way back to the door, I saw the robin coming back with something that looked like a  piece of bread the size of a half-dollar. They eat earthworms, I know, but bread? It went to the nest and let the birdies have some, when suddenly the robin saw me coming closer from the mailbox. I of course had my camera around my neck, already focused for a close-up, and I think I got the shot. I'll check it out later. As it saw me, it flew off the nest, and went several feet away, as I kept walking. It then landed on our porch roof, and I made a shot of it with the bread(?) still in its mouth. Then it flew off the roof, and accidentally dropped the bread in the higher grass. It was chirping loudly (at me, I suppose!) and I went onto the porch, took a shot at the nest birdies, and then a shot of the robin without the bread. 

It flew onto a little statue the neighbor has, and I took another shot. Immediately it glanced at the piece of bread among the blades of grass, and I went into the house. I peeked through the glass door and he was already on the ground, and I was quite excited, believe me, to get so many shots of his quick actions. The robin plucked it out of the grass and flew onto its nest to feed the very hungry teenage birdies. 

Another thing that makes me wonder quite a lot ~ this morning there were two sparrows of some kind, that chirped quickly and long when the robin flew in with some food (it happened as I peeked out a couple of times this morning, too) and flew back and forth from the low roof top to the crepe myrtle bushes. Could this be that they are excited about the robins' birdies getting ready to leave for college, or are they being annoyed that their own territory is being disturbed? Wish I knew why they do that chirping. 

Do I dare to take another peek? All right, I'll peek. The provider robin flies in with an earthworm hanging from its beak, lands on the low roof, begins to chirp at me ~ scolding is a better word, in its mind ~ so I step back into our house to my chores and wonder if that was bread earlier or not. 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

"In An Old Dutch Garden By An Old Dutch Mill."

Sunday, April 27, 2014.

"In An Old Dutch Garden By An Old Dutch Mill"

This is a song that was recorded Nov 29, 1939, by Eddy Duchin & His Orchestra, while we lived in Plymouth/Larksville, Pa., across the Susquehanna River from Wilkes-Barre. 

I was seven years old, and I fell in love with this song. I used to listen to it on the radio when it came on, thrilled pink. 

Let me explain how this came to mind: I'll go back in time (it's 4:30 a.m. Apr 27, 2014) to when I awoke from my First Sleep at 3:50 a.m. this morning. I went to the restroom, got back into bed, but couldn't fall asleep again. I came into the living room and turned the TV on to get the weather report on TV. I don't like the forecast for tonight, it seems there possibly might be very severe storms. 

Then I came to the computer to see if anyone emailed me, and began to listen to 247PolkaHeaven.com. The first number was a polka something about an old garden or similar words. Ooooh, I thought, but it didn't seem to be the one I knew when I was seven; I went to YouTube and typed in "In An Old Dutch Garden", and was utterly surprised when about a dozen spots came up with renditions by a dozen different musicians.  

I chose Eddy Duchin who recorded it on Nov 29, 1939. I am as happy as a lark and will listen to a few more, then go back to bed for my Second Sleep.  

I remember that the neighbor girl Dorothy and I used to play together and put on shows for each other. She would sing, or do a little dance, while I sat on their porch swing on a little concrete patio by the kitchen door. When she would finish, I would applaud, and we'd change places to do another act of 'the show'. No doubt I would sing "In An Old Dutch Garden By An Old Dutch Mill."  We would sing various songs, recite alphabet names of automobiles, talk about Sonja Henie, Esther Williams, and Shirley Temple, during much of our play time. 

Isn't it strange how such long-ago episodes come back to us at the oddest times?  

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Hatched! and Feeding! So enjoyable!

Saturday, April 26, 2014.


The houses here in the neighborhood are quite close to the next one, and are made of bricks. There is a rain pipe coming down from the eaves, against the house, with an elbow-bend in it near the eaves, making it a very appropriate place for robins to build a nest. The eaves extend about a foot, which keeps the nest dry. The eaves make a 'ceiling' so the bird can stand on the edge of the nest and not bump its head on the 'ceiling'. The nest is horizontal and resting on the elbow-bend, sort of a built-up penthouse for The Robin Family.

The pair of robins decided to build their nest on the neighbor's house, right where I can see it from my front door. When they first started to build it from the 'ground up', they would come flying in with a mouthful of a few strands of hay, oats, or tall grass (it was hard for me to know which it was, because I didn't want them to see me at their new house lot). The long strands would hang over the pipe. They did this for a few days, then seemed to abandon it. But shortly after that, they began to come with mud to make the nest solid.

The robins' nest is about fourteen feet from my front door, and I try to go in and out of my house without too much noise or activity, so the robin won't fly out of the nest. One of the robins was on the                  nest most of the time for whatever length of time it takes to incubate the eggs.  

Well, within the last week, there was hatching going on, because I found a half-shell of a robin's egg several yards away from the nest. At first I couldn't see the babies and it's possible only one hatched the first day. There may be four, their long necks stretching for Mommy's food. I've been watching several times a day when I can.

I happened to see one day that the parent robin came with a hefty little earthworm hanging from its beak, and the bird stood over four wide-open mouths, and down the hatch it went to one or two of them. The other parent suddenly came and flew up to the nest, so the other birdies weren't too disappointed. At one mini-minute there were two robins on the edge of the nest! That made me smile a lot.

I noticed that the robins do a lot of chirping when they are near and coming with food, to notify each other. They could also be chirping warnings as they leave the nest if something or someone is approaching their nest. By the way, those long strands are still hanging down on both sides of the nest, for about nine or ten inches! Perhaps I ought to read about The Lives of Robins!


I'll see at the Corner Post ...

I Had Some Little Surprises Today.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014.

Today began as usual, after I had a really good night. I was so happily surprised, because sometimes I have Two Sleeps per night, and have to get up in the wee hours after Sleep Number One to keep myself busy ~ tossing and turning is useless; then I go back to bed for Sleep Number Two.

This morning I began to think that I should make some vegetarian cabbage rolls for myself and the freezer. I looked up a few recipes, and hatched my own recipe. It was cooking on the stove for about an hour, and when they were cooled a little, I tried one. Unbelievably luscious. What a tasty surprise! Maybe the kitchen muse was thinking this up for me overnight. I saved my recipe to do this again in a few weeks. 

When I was going out to the mailbox to see if there was any mail for me, I looked at the lovely clover bed by the driveway, as I always do, to see if there is a four-leaf clover for me. I found one a few days ago. I didn't have to look very long or hard today, and there it was, a large four-leaf clover  for me! PLUS, about a foot away there was a half-shell of a robin's-blue egg! My first of the season. I wonder how many hatchlings there are in the nest quite close to us.  

Around two o'clock, I was becoming quite tired, so I went to lie down on my bed for a little rest. I went to La-La Land so quickly, I could hardly believe it. There were two Power Naps, one after the other, about seven or eight minutes each. I rose quite full of energy.  

After that, I washed a load of slacks and several turtleneck shirts. I always feel satisfied when the laundry load is done.   

About four o'clock, I began to crave dessert of some kind. There is none here, so I began to think of what I could make. I wanted some kind of muffin-type treat. Banana-muffin came into mind. I looked up a couple of recipes, and wanted gluten free something, so I developed a recipe that I wasn't sure would work out. I was going to use almond meal. Went to the fridge to get it out, and 'shoot!', I had used it all up some time ago. Well, I made a simple batter and added some vanilla and dried currants, and poured it into a rectangular baking pan. Muffins take too long to fuss with, my muse told me, so I ended up with a thin layer of dessert. When it cooled, I lifted it out in quarters with a long pancake turner. To my great and happy surprise, it turned out to be quite luscious. I saved my concoction recipe to make it again.  

Today is Earth Day, and Esther's Birthday, so maybe that is why I had five good surprises. 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

A Birthday Fellow; Preening Robin; A Few Word Specimens.

Friday, April 11, 2014.


Today is John's Birthday in Australia, but it won't be here until our midnight tonight. You can then re-read my email that I sent early this morning. We do have many pictures of all of our siblings, spouses, in-laws, nieces nephews, and grandchildren, but they are not all in the same place! Sometimes I cannot find what I want, in the photos.  

I did find a few pictures of our Birthday Boy (Birthday Person) (Birthday Man) to send along with the Birthday greetings. 

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I mentioned at the beginning of this email that I am quite slow today. I lack in 100% enthusiasm. I'll bet I need to take a Power Nap. Or maybe read a book. I hope I won't have to get into bed very early, as I enjoy a very long day. I also enjoy a very long evening, too. 

When I visited the rest room I looked out the window to the back yard, and on the back fence there was a robin. I'll bet a nickel that it was the robin who just flew off the incubation nest on the elbow of the rain pipe at the neighbor's house, for a break. (I really wish to know if the mates take turns doing the incubating.) 

It was sitting on the top of the fence, in the very high winds, and it was grooming its feathers on its breast. That took a few minutes. Then it dabbled into its left wing. Each part of its body had a very good 'digging for gold' process, its back, its tail, wings, the lower part of his breast, and as high on the breast as it could go. I was going to get my camera, but I thought that it would fly away in a minute or so. I'll bet the whole process took about six to eight minutes. The wind was steadily blowing, but it had good grasps with the claws on its feet, probably. When it was nearing the end, it cleaned its beak from side to side on the wooden fence, as if it were sharpening a knife with another knife. I finally left the window while it was still there.  

I think the reason it was there so long is because it does not do any preening or active moves while it is on the nest-with-eggs, and it must do the necessary preening ~ this could also be cleaning themselves of parasites. 

I keep wondering how many eggs are in the nest keeping warm.  

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Do you know what these items are: moo; pit stick; and cackleberries? Think about this for a little while. May be I will give you the answer as I close this writing.

'Soccer' is a kick in the grass. 

"Old wine and an old friend are good provisions." ~ George Herbert.

A housewife was reading a magazine in the kitchen when the milkman came. "Next time you come, could you bring me ten gallons of milk?" she requested.      "Isn't that a lot of milk to drink?" he asked.      "Oh, I'm not going to drink it," she replied. "It says here in this magazine that taking a milk bath will beautify your skin and I figure it'll take about ten gallons to fill up the tub."       "Pasteurized?" the milkman inquired.       "No," she said. "Just up to my neck." 

And now, the answers to those three items above: moo is milk; pit stick is underarm deodorant; and cackleberries are eggs.   

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...   

Old Letters; Shiverhillians; 'Painting" with MUD.

Thursday, April 3, 2014.

Recently, I discovered many letters that Grandma S had sent to us. She was really very good  to us, writing so often, and sometimes she wrote to our six little kids. One thing only, that disturbs me: she almost never dated the letter. She always had in the upper right-hand corner of the paper, "Sunday" "Tuesday evening" Monday morning" "Saturday afternoon", but rarely a date. Once in a while there was "Monday June 4th" or something similar. If I really need to know the year, I would have to look up time and date or something like it, on CALENDAR. The computer sometimes bewilders me, but it does help me many times. 

Gram B usually dated her letters, and I am so thrilled about that. The big folder of letters that I am going through must remain all together, because we can usually figure out what month and year they were received, from the dates on other letters from friends and relatives. 

On one of Gram B's letters, April 20, 1970, she opened with "Dear Shiverhillians, hope you don't shiver too much now. You will probably get what we are having out here in Michigan: cold, cold rain."  I'm glad she didn't name us as a Bunch of Shiverhellions! It wouldn't have been true, though, if she had thought of us that way. "A hellion is: a rowdy, mischievous, or troublemaking person, especially a child." Our children were almost always wonderful, cheerful, helpful, non-fighting, caring, and lovable kids! There was almost never any bad things about them. Those were the Good Old Days for me, you can be sure! They loved playing together, and playing with friends; and they were all bright, good children. 

The time that the younger boys 'painted' the outside wall of the connecting woodshed (as it was called) was so much fun for them. I must not forget to mention that they painted it with MUD. Yes, MUD. It was an excellent job, they were very proud of it, and I liked the color quite a lot. They produced the MUD by adding some water to their enlarged sandbox adjacent to the woodshed. Originally there were some boards around the sandbox, but it grew so large that the boards disappeared one day. They often played there in the sand and the natural soil (these two soils became a concoction), making cabins, holes, bridges, rivers, creeks, ditches, and many other creations. Their best fun was to dig big holes that they would sit in or lie in and get covered up almost completely with the sandbox material. We have some photos as proof of these experiments. 

That one day that they 'painted' the woodshed surely stands out in our memories. By the way, they did have to wash down all the MUD, after they proudly admired for several hours  their good job of 'painting'.


I'll see you at the Corner Post ...