A Good Sign

Yesterday and today I've heard the chirps of a tiny bird seemingly in the shrubbery along the walk down towards the first floor door at the office.  It seemed like that of a small warbler or other little songbird, and I looked for it in the shrubs and the low trees around the outside dining area, but could not locate the source.

Today at lunch I carried out a box of assorted personal things from my office to put in the car.  As I reached the top of the walk from the first floor to the parking lot, I heard the tiny chirping, and louder near its source.  And then I saw several small birds, one rather ragged one clinging to the front of a car parked at the foremost parking spot. Two others hopped nearby on the ground, then flew quickly to the small shrubs lining the walk.  The scruffy-looking one chirped a nagging chorus at the other two, then finally seemed to gather its strength and launch itself after them onto the ground nearby, dancing excitedly across the ground then the short-mowed lawn, pecking at somethings about its feet and chirping in excitement the while.

The two more smoothed-feathered and slightly larger birds had hopped, with their chirps, across the grass and into the small shrubs, chirping loudly as they went.

I paused with a smile and watched the summary of the scene:  the slightly larger (but rather slimmer than the other unruly chirper) pair exchanged comments between themselves, while the scruffy and louder chirper exclaimed loudly at everything before its eyes, then with an excited hop pounced and pecked upon it.

And the summary of the moment: The two slimmer birds are Western Bluebirds, somewhat less ornamented than their eastern cousins, harder to distinguish from all the other small songbirds we have out here.  All our birds bear their colors within subdued coats of dust or dun-colored overcoats.  The louder and more neatly arranged bird is the fledgling, gangling, awkward, and extremely reluckant to try feeding itself yet demanding that someone owes it a feeding.

The omen for me?  the little one is a fledgling, today upon its first flights from the nest.  It explodes with energy today upon the walkway and into the lawn, poking and pecking and chirping in delight at the bugs it fnds and consumes.  Its foray into the open shows me it is a western Bluebird - much less colorful than the Eastern cousins but just as opinionated about its diet, to judge from its vocabulary.  It has happily fledged and now joyfully launches itself into this new game of food-gathering, now on its own (with some unobserved oversite from Mum and Dad) to get as much out of life as it possibly can.

A good omen indeed.

Interesting Possibilities

Packing up things at the office, I came across a little thing I haven't seen since maybe two office moves ago.  It's a little figurine, about two inches high, of the Navajo "Storyteller."  This one has five children climbing over her as she sits with her mouth open, signifying that she is telling a story.

I bought it some five years ago in the Phoenix airport coming back from the Blackboard Users Conference.  At the time I was taking writing classes and wanting to spend time writing.  Things got busy, to say the least, and I have not had time to write for pleasure in years.  Coming across it now gave me pause.  Maybe now is a good time to think about that again.

From Robert Frost's "The Sound of The Trees"

I shall set forth for somewhere,
I shall make the reckless choice
Some day when they are in voice
And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I shall be gone.

First Day of Summer 2010

I'm sitting outside again, watching the evening turn into twilight. I just came back from a walk with my oldest daughter, and feel completely worn out. I feel like a convalescent recovering from some drawn out illness instead of just a somewhat severe attack of the common cold.

Birds are chirping their evening songs up in the trees around the house. Inside, the parakeets are squawking in response, chirp-squawk-trill.

If I remain very still, some of the wild birds may come down for a last drink from the birdbath. A pair of Western Goldfinches and a Tohee have adopted the bath as a regular stop in the early morning and evening. I can hear robins, some kind of warbler, and the tohee off in the distance, but so far no visitors.

Ah, here comes someone now, tentatively hopping along the ground picking at bugs. I will stop writing now and sit and watch. A wonderful way to end the first day of Astronomic Summer.

two plus weeks and counting down

I'm still sick, the doctor says it's just a cold. At least last night I had half a night's sleep.

My work email has dried up almost completely as people learn to go to others for much of their answers. But one manager asked me to run a report and analyze the data, and my mind jumped at the thought. I really enjoy finding the common patterns in large batches of data. I will be sure to ask the out-counseling service how I can do of that.

It's hardest to say goodbye to the people I've worked with and around for so many years. People don't go into publishing to make money, it doesn't pay at all. The reasons go way back, but the result is that people in publishing are there because they love it, in some ways it's a vocation. Working with people who have passion about what they do has been very sustaining over the years. I shall have to look into similar fields.

Sunday Afternoon

I love this house. It is small, and we are crowded, true. But though it gets messy quickly, it cleans up quickly as well.

I'm sitting on the sofa watching the afternoon pass through our back patio. A pleasant breeze blows through the house from back to front, and I hear a few birds calling outside. I also hear the freeway, perhaps a mile from us, but muted into background noise. Even the parakeets have fallen asleep in a late afternoon nap.

Rob and the kids have gone to visit their grandfather, leaving me at home to continue resting and recovering from this cough. I'm glad to have the house to myself, and equally glad to know they will be home before long. A very balanced day.

What a time to get sick!

Over the weekend I caught hold of the cough that first Gabby, then Teresa, brought home. Perhaps because I have NOT been exposed to it for the past six months as they have while it made the rounds of the class, I have been grabbed by the heels and tossed on my head. I think I spent the past 36 hours lying on one part of the bed, rolling from one side to the other and coughing.

Fortunately I had already booked the time off so was already officially offline. The kids finished school yesterday, and Rob won't be done until he cleans up his lab Friday, so we had to plan the coverage. Let me say here for all to read: our girls are wonderfully mature and capable! Today they managed their own food and entertainment, broke ranks when necessary to maintain the common peace, and generally allowed me to remain in my prone position, my only responsibilities to cough and at times roll over to prevent bed sores.

Interestingly, my compatriots at work are managing as well, though they habitually cc me on their messages. I am pleased to see that things are generally moving smoothly, which bodes well for my poor successors.

first post here

Hi, all, this is me, starting a new blog because I cannot remember the password to the first one I started, "Workingwifeandmother," but maybe that's ok since after July I would have to use strike-out characters on the "working" part of the title, and it turns out THAT title has already been used by someone else. Figures.

Yes, my position at Cengage has been eliminated, and at this time I do not have any plans. Honestly, the past two weeks have multiple layers of activities going on and it's taken most of my attention away from worry, which is good. Here's what's going on:

The girls all finish their school year tomorrow. Actually the oldest, Rachel, graduated on Friday and is officially not-an-eighth-grader anymore. Friday was filled with Bacheloriate Mass, Graduate's Luncheon sponsored by the 7th Grade, then the Graduation Ceremony itself Friday evening.

Two weekends' ago was the School Festival, and if you've never been it's just like the closing scene in the movie "Grease" - carnival rides, kids running around, and music - the latter on stage with a mix of semi-pro and talented amateur. I worked the Hamburger/Hotdog booth on Saturday night and spent Friday night and Sunday onsite while the girls ran hither and yon. With intensity.

Of course someone had to get a cold at the end of the school year, and I of course caught it from my girls over the weekend. I woke up today unable to do more than drive the two remaining school girls to school and pick them up after. I spent the time between on the sofa, under heavy layers of blankets. I know my colleagues hope I've beaten it, because we really need to work on the transfers of authority.

That's all for now, since a) I have run out of things to post and b) I am ready to fall asleep again. TTFN, and ciao.