HUMMINGBIRD HOT TODDY

I was busy making dinner, when my son Alex came into the kitchen. “It smells good in here! What are you making?”

I grabbed a fork to turn over the chicken cutlet I was frying. “I'm making chicken parmesan.” I said as I reached over and stirred the pot with the sauce in it.

“So what's this for?” Alex lifted the pot that was filled with water.

“I'm making hummingbird nectar.” I pointed to the hummingbird feeders next to the sink. “It's that time of year again!” I cried. “I love watching those little guys swooping around the back porch!”

Alex put the lid back on. “Is there anything I can do?”

“You could set the table.” I suggested. “Dinner should be ready in about a half an hour.”

After dinner, I was straightening up the kitchen and watching out the window as my husband Steven and Alex played a game of cornhole in the back yard. I couldn't help but smile as I heard the thunk of the beanbag hit the wooden board. It was another sound that reminded me that summer was almost here.

I touched the side of the pot that the hummingbird nectar was cooling in. Even though it was still a bit warm I decided to put the nectar into the feeders. Carrying them out the back door I hung them up on their posts and leaned over the rail to watch the cornhole match.

“Who's winning?” I asked.

“Dad.” Alex said as he laid the beanbag in the palm of his hand and lined up his toss. “But I'm only a point away from him.” He tossed the bag and it slid along the board slipping through the hole.

“Three point! You're ahead now!” I called, happy to see they were both having fun before I went back in to finish up the kitchen.

I was only inside for a moment when Steven called. “You've already got hummingbirds at your feeder!”

I ran back outside. “NO! NO! NO!” I cried. “It's too soon!”

Alex and Steven stopped playing and looked at me. “Too soon?” Steven asked.

“It wasn't fully cooled!” I cried. “I didn't expect them now!” I went over to touch the outside of the feeder. “It doesn't feel that warm.” I admitted. “Now I'm not sure what to think.”

Steven and Alex looked at one another and began shaking their heads.

“What?” I cried as I looked at them. “I could have burnt their little throats!”

“Isn't the feeder sitting in the sun all summer long?” Steven asked.

“Yeah...” I wasn't sure where he was going with this.

“So don't you think the nectar gets a little warm just sitting out all day?” Alex and Steven began collecting their beanbags.

“Hey, that's true!” I was beginning to feel a little better. “It must warm up in the sun.”

Steven looked by the side of the house. “You know, he flew this way. Do you want me to check and see if he's not laying in the grass somewhere needing help?”

“Very funny.” I wasn't feeling amused as the two of them came up on the deck to put away their beanbags. Steven opened the back door. “Are you coming in?” he asked.

“In a minute.” I said.

Steven started to laugh. “You're going to go around the side of the house and check aren't you.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe.”

PHOTO OVERLOAD

I was sitting on the couch staring at the pile of photo envelopes sitting on our coffee table when my husband, Steven came into the room. “What are you up to?” he asked as he sat down next to me.

“I'm suppose to be sorting my vacation pictures.” I pointed to the giant pile laying in front of me. “I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.” I sighed.

“How many pictures did you take?” Steven reached over and picked up one of the envelopes.

“Looking at that pile, I'm going to say hundreds!” I grabbed a pillow and put it behind my head as I leaned back against the couch.

Steven tried to hand my the envelope. “Do you want to start with this one?”

I shook my head. “It's going to take hours to go through all of them and I'm just not feeling it right now.” I sighed.

Steven dropped it back on the pile. “Why'd you take so many pictures?”

I looked over at him shocked. “I was in the Netherlands!” I cried. “It was so beautiful there! I'm surprised I didn't take more!”

Steven shook his head. “Okay, I get it, but how long are these going to stay on the coffee table?”

“I'm hoping that by leaving them out it will be a constant reminder to get working on them.”

“Okay.” He reached over to the pile of coffee table books and grabbed two of the books. “So what's the reason these are still here?” He handed me the two travel books, one about Belgium and Luxembourg and the other Amsterdam. “You're not planning your trip anymore.”

I couldn't help but smile as I took the books from him and began leafing through the Amsterdam book. “Now these have become memory books! I can't put them away!” I stopped at one page. “I've been here.” I pointed to a picture of Anne Frank's House. “I can't even begin to explain the feeling I got when I was inside and heard the siren of a police car in the distance.” I looked over at Steven and shuttered. “It was powerful.” I flipped a few more pages and stopped again. “The Van Gogh Museum, this was amazing!” I picked up the Belgium book and the first page I opened. “Bruges!” I cried. “It's like walking into a painting of a medieval town!” I looked over at Steven. “Did I mention I fell in love with Burges?”

Steven laughed. “You've mentioned it once or twice.”

“I can't really pick a favorite stop, it was all amazing!” I looked over at the pile of pictures again. “I going to need a lot of time to go though all of them.” I sighed. “While I'm trying to decide which ones to keep, I'm going to be reliving the entire vacation.” I looked over at Steven. “That's going to take a lot of time.”

Steven nodded. “So, what you're trying to tell me is that this could be sitting on the coffee table for months.”

I put the travel books back on the book pile and moved the stack of photos closer to the books.
“I guess this doesn't look very good, does it.”

Steven just shook his head.

I tried pushing them behind the African violet that sat in the middle of the table,

“I can still see them.” Steven said.

“I know.” I sighed. “They do look awful sitting here.”

“Yup.” Steven grabbed the remote and turned on the television.

“Okay, I guess I really don't need the visual to remind me to go through them.” I stood up and adjusted the envelopes as they began to slip and slide in my arms. “It's not like I need to leave the box of pasta out on the counter to remind me what I'm making for dinner.” I laughed.

“We're having pasta for dinner?” Steven sounded interested.

“Maybe I should have left the box out on the counter for you to see.”

A ROBIN'S RANT

My husband Steven was outside trimming our holly tree when he sent me a picture of a nest with four baby blue eggs in it. I raced outside.

“You found a robin's nest!” I cried.

Steven was standing away from the tree as a robin was frantically hopping on the railing by my son, Alex's back door.

“Yeah.” Steven pointed to the robin. “But he's so upset I thought I'd stop for today and let him settle down.”

“That's a good idea.” I so desperately wanted to take a peek at the nest but I was afraid to get too close to the tree. Instead I looked back at the picture Steven had sent me. “This is going to be so great!” I cried. “I'll be able to watch the baby birds from Alex's door.”

I went back inside and knocked on Alex's door.

“Come in!” he called.

I went through his bedroom and into his office. “You're not going to believe what's right outside your door!” I held up the phone so he could see the picture.

“Oh, great.” he sighed. “Screaming baby birds right outside my door.”

“Hey!” I was a bit surprised. “We're going to be able to watch nature up close!” I went to his door and opened it. The glass on the door was smeared with something white. “Ewe...” I cried. “What's all over your door?”

Alex came over. “Ewe... what is that?”

I looked over at his railing which was covered with bird poop. “Well, I'm guessing this is where he's hanging out protecting his nest.”

“Okay, I get the railing.” he looked over at me. “Which is disgusting, by the way, but what's all over my glass?”

I closed the door and went to my room where I could look out my window and watch the robin on Alex's railing. It wasn't long before I realized what was happening.

“Hey, Alex! Come here a minute!”

Alex came into my room. “What's up?”
I pointed out my window. “Watch.”

The robin was sitting on Alex's railing when suddenly it glanced over to his glass storm door and began making a funny squeaking sound and flew at the window. “He's seeing his reflection in your window and thinking it's another bird, so he's protecting his nest.” I explained.

“Oh, great.” Alex shook his head. “So he's not a very smart bird and now he's having kids.”

I started to laugh. “Really? That's what you've come up with?”

Alex pointed to all the poop on his railing. “That, and seeing his reflection is clearly scaring it right out of him!”

I had to laugh again. “Don't worry, after I clean it up I'll put something on the glass where he can't see his reflection anymore.” I looked over at Alex. “How's that?”

Alex nodded. “That sound like it should work.”

“Just think we'll be able to watch the babies for almost two weeks before they leave the nest!”

“Yeah.” he said, but he didn't sound very enthusiastic.

“I'm so glad I've passed my love of nature on to you.” I called after him.

SPRING PEEPERS

It had been a long overdue beautiful Spring day, and as night was falling I was getting settled on the couch for some TV surfing. I'd just picked up the remote when my husband Steven walked into the living room and stopped. “Is it hot in here?” he asked.

It was an unfamiliar question because up until then it had been a very cold Spring. I hadn't gotten a chance to answer him before he went over to the thermostat. “I'm going to put the air conditioning on.”

“Wait!” I called. “Why don't we open the windows instead? It's beautiful out!”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, why not.” He went over to the dining room window, unlatched the lock, and pulled it open. He took a deep breath. “Wow! You can smell the hyacinths I gave you for Easter!”

I went over to the window and inhaled. “They smell so good!” While I was enjoying their fragrance I stopped for a moment to listen. “Are those spring peepers I'm hearing?”

Steven listened. “Sure sounds like it.”

“Oh my gosh, I love the sound of spring peepers!” I'd noticed we had some little frogs in the yard but I had no idea they were peepers. I went over to the kitchen door. “Do you want to come out and sit on the porch and listen to them with me?”

“Sure, why not.”

Once we were sitting in our chairs and had been listening to them for a while I began to wonder. “You know, the last time I remember listening to them was when we lived on the river.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” The peepers were making quiet a lot of noise now. “Don't they have to be by water?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I thought they lived in the woods.”

“I think they live in the woods but they have to lay their eggs in water.” I took my phone out of my pocket and began typing in my question. When the link came up I began to get upset. “They do live in the woods and hibernate there in the winter but in the spring they need to be by water!” I looked over at Steven. “How close is the nearest body of water?”

Steven thought about it for a moment. “I'm going to say a couple of miles.”

Now I really was getting upset. “How are the peepers in our woods going to be able to travel a couple of miles?” I cried.

Steven sighed. “I'm sure they'll figure it out.”

“Oh, come on Steven! They're in our woods, singing their little hearts out, looking for a mate, and they're going to hop a few miles from here to have their babies!” I was feeling sorry for our poor misguided peepers. “They'll never make it!”

Our son Alex came out the back door. “What are you guys up to?” he asked.

“Your Mom wanted to come out here and listen to the Spring peepers.” Steven said as Alex walked over to the glider and sat down.

“Oh is that what that noise is?” he asked. “What are they?”

“They're little frogs.” I explained. “When we were living by the river it was one of the first signs that Spring was really here.” I held up my phone. “But I just realized that they need to be by water to lay their eggs and your Dad says the nearest body of water is a few miles away!”

Steven looked over at Alex. “Your Mom's worried that they won't be able to make it there.”

Alex looked over at me and started to laugh. “So, what are you going to do? Go out in our woods and started catching them so you can drive them to the river?”

Steven slowly shook his head. “I really wish you hadn't said that Alex.”

I smiled as I looked over at Alex. “You know, when I was a kid, I was really good at catching frogs.”

“Are you serious?” Alex seemed surprised.

Now it was my turn to laugh as I got up and walked over to him. “No, but I love the fact that you think I'd do something like that.” I leaned down and gave him a kiss on the top of his head.