SOLSC '22 Day Seven: Prying eyes

 

Since yesterday's post was about the trail cam, I thought a follow-up was in order.

On Sunday morning, my husband asked if I wanted the trail camera, aka "critter cam", mounted to the playscape from which our bird feeder hangs.  I said yes, so he put on some sneakers, walked to the backyard in his pajamas, and proceeded to strap the camera in place.

Facing our house.

That was not what I thought he would do.  After all, we have a BIG picture window over our kitchen sink that looks directly out onto the playscape.  Would our comings and goings in the kitchen trigger the camera's motion sensors?

I voiced my concerns when he returned to the house, but he made a comment that the photos weren't being broadcast to the internet, and anyway, this was just a trial run.  Hmph, was my reply.  

At dusk, he retrieved the camera so we could see what it captured.  Thankfully, my kitchen movements didn't seem to trigger the camera at all; in fact, the reflection from the yard almost obscures the view inside the house.  

The camera took over 240 pictures in about eight hours.  Enjoy some birdwatching with me!  See if you can identify the cardinal pair, redwing blackbird, doves, bluejays, European starlings, a chickadee in flight, and a titmouse.  Our two regular woodpecker visitors made an appearance, too!

SOLSC '22 Day Six: Co-conspirator

 

"Aren't you going to open your gift?" he said, a hint of excitement in his voice.

"I haven't made my coffee yet," I replied, "let me wake up a bit."

I poured the coffee into my mug, added my sweetener and creamer.  Taking a few sips as I turned back around towards the dining table, I assessed the size of the box.  Too big to be jewelry, too small to be shoes...hmmm.

He had wrapped it impeccably, as always, and I hated to just tear at it, but I finally got the paper off.  A trail camera?  For when I go off into the woods?...Wait a minute, this isn't THAT kind of camera, my brain quickly sorted out.  It's...

"A critter cam!" I almost shouted.  "For the birdfeeder, yes?"

"Yep," he said.  "You read the manual and figure out the settings, and I'll help mount it someplace where we can get some good pictures."

I spent the next half hour doing exactly just that.  It's fun to be married to a co-conspirator when it come to birdwatching.

SOLSC '22 Day Five: Five years more

I began this personal blog as a response to reaching the age at which my mother was diagnosed with, and later died from, ALS.  She passed at 51.  

Today is my 56th birthday. 

Fifty-six isn't a milestone birthday, but my brain is always, always looking for connections, for patterns, for significance.  It settled on the five year difference between my mother's death-age and my current birthday.

What have I experienced in the last five years?

My son's graduation from high school and college.  His traumatic, but necessary, major jaw surgery.

My daughter's time in Japan introducing us to an amazing, beautiful culture.  Her marriage and return to the United States.

Five successful years as a librarian, and a transfer back to my neighborhood school.

Five years of blogging about reading, information literacy and book fairs; personal musings, personal failures, and politics.

Participating in and chairing a Texas Library Association committee.

A celebration of thirty years of marriage to my awesome husband.

Raising and releasing monarch butterflies.

Birdwatching in my backyard.

Roadtrips to Denton and through the Hill Country.

Losing good friends too soon, and gaining new friends.

A global pandemic.

What did my mother miss in the five years after her death?

Tornados spotted over our neighborhood, my miscarriage at the same time.

The birth of her grandson, and two of his three thumb surgeries.

Her granddaughter going to kindergarten, and their shared birthday celebrations.

Her grandson going to preschool, and her granddaughter's brief hospital stay.

The crocheted work I made with just a small portion of her yarn stash.

My work in the NICU, and my transition back to education as an ARD facilitator.

The celebration of our tenth wedding anniversary.

Holiday gatherings; the tables I set with her good china, her recipes I attempted to replicate.

More time with her own parents, who outlived her by more than a decade, and her brother.

Family beach trips, and road trips to El Paso, Ohio, Florida.

The times I desperately needed her advice, needed to hear her voice.

 

SOLSC '22, Day Four: Look for the helpers

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

--Fred Rogers

Today I noticed the helpers

The husband who washed my coffee mug

The colleague who asked how I was, and meant it

The assistant superintendent popping into our library,

working hard to get funds approved for remodeling our space

The student at the book fair, buying an intentional gift for a sibling

or a friend, or both

The long-term sub taking a day to help in the library, swiping

her debit card to cover taxes for kindergarteners and ESL students

and any student who didn't count on extra expense, grasping

their hard-earned or gifted crumpled bills in sweaty palms

The instructional coach who walked PreK students to the

book fair, and helped them shop

The assistant, reminding me to go to the bathroom while

she ran the register, straightened table displays, helped

students budget their book money

The parent support specialist and volunteers who showed up in

the late afternoon to make sure our parent shopping event 

went off without a hitch

The volunteer dad who left early with his children, so he

could make his spaghetti sauce from scratch for dinner

The moms who stayed to the end, straightening up for

the students who will show up at 8am Friday to shop

The husband who saved a Round Rock Donut for his wife,

sweet indulgence to end a long day.

 

SOLSC '22 Day Three: Ashes to ashes

 

This Slice doubles as a Spiritual Journey Thursday post.  Thank you, Ruth, for the prompt of "ashes".

She walked hurriedly down the hall, past my morning duty station at the corner by the library, on the way to her crosswalk duty.  The large dark smudge on her forehead caused an ever so slight guilty twinge in my heart and a slight smile under my mask.  That must have been a really early Ash Wednesday service--or a drive thru one, I thought to myself.  I remembered the feeling of belonging to something bigger than myself as I used to stand in line to be reminded from whence I came, to where I would return.  But that foundation had too many cracks; I find other ways to observe, now.

Midday brought a teary discussion with a colleague over the impending death of her parent.  We talked frankly about what we are and aren't capable of facing, how complicated relationships can be, how we juggle protecting ourselves while being of service to others.  Her parent wants to be cremated...ashes to ashes, dust to dust.  

Later at home, I moved yet another pile of clutter so that my son can sleep in his bed when he visits this weekend.  Our family has been talking a lot about the stuff that we've accumulated over the past three decades.  We're in the discussion phase of what needs to stay, and what can go.  As I moved the pile of Christmas decor that hadn't been properly put away yet, the thought of a fire turning it all into ashy rubble came to mind.  What would I truly miss?  What is ready to go?

Rituals of belonging

Rituals of departure

Rituals of release

https://myfranciscan.org/event/burning-palm-branches-02-11-18/

I once heard an Ash Wednesday sermon that referenced the use of ashes in the refining of silver.  I found this explanation online:

"Today, the cupellation process involves heating crushed ore on a porous bed of bone ash until it melts. The lead and other impurities are absorbed into the bone ash, and the molten silver is drawn off."

The fiery crises in life test us.  We can become better people in the ashes that remain, when what is truly precious is made clear.  Perhaps Ash Wednesday's message isn't just about our mortality, but about the ashes themselves, and what we shall make of them, what bright, refined purpose can arise from the remains of those burnt palm leaves.

Source of cupellation quote:

https://www.thenaturalsapphirecompany.com/education/precious-metal-mining-refining-techniques/silver-mining-refining/

  

SOLSC '22 Day Two: Choosing to be happy

 

The tradition of eating at IHOP for Mardi Gras began when my two children were little and my husband worked evening shift.  I was the only one of the three of us who actually fasted on Ash Wednesday, but we all enjoyed pancakes for Pancake Tuesday.

My husband switched to days, and the tradition continued (though I was still the only one fasting the next day).  And when the children grew up and left home...I insisted that I still needed IHOP for Mardi Gras.  After all, I still fast on Ash Wednesday.  (Except for when it falls on my birthday...but I digress...)

Since hubby and I still aren't eating inside restaurants (dang you, COVID), I tried IHOP's newfangled order online service for pickup.  We both ordered the 2x2x2 combo--his with plain pancakes, mine with Mexican Dulce Leche pancakes.  

It all went according to plan.  I placed the order, answered all the text messages, and hubby picked it up on the way home.  Said it was easy, peasy, and the guy at the counter was really friendly.

He set the bags down on the dining room table and divvied up the containers, noting suspiciously that the pancakes didn't look much different.  We took the lids off...and sure enough, not only did we both have plain pancakes, but he was missing one.

After a few disgruntled remarks about paying extra for the dulce leche I didn't receive, I offered hubby one of my pancakes, and he insisted on splitting it between us.  He tried to make things better by saying I probably didn't "need" the extra sweetness, which I swiftly rebutted with the reminder that it was FAT Tuesday, and after all, I would be fasting the next day.

In the end, I soothed my ruffled feathers with a slice of microwave-warmed strawberry king cake, and chose to be happy with the otherwise perfectly good Mardi Gras dinner.

SOLSC '22 Day One: Blue skies

                                                                 

It was gray much of last week--driving to school in the dim, bland pre-dawn, coming home under equally dull skies.  Not that it mattered much; my library is quite literally at the heart of the building, surrounded by hallways with low ceilings bearing muted fluorescent bulbs, the only light source in the space.  I somewhat affectionately refer to my work domain as "the bomb shelter".  I wasn't upset when they moved my afternoon duty to the car rider line, providing me with some much needed fresh air and sunlight, no matter how muted.

But this Monday...the skies were a brilliant blue.  Driving into the sunrise for a meeting on another campus, I had to put on my sunglasses and lower my visor.  

We had an extended lunch break.  Some headed off to restaurants...I wasn't ready for that, haven't eaten inside a restaurant since March 2020.  I drove to a Chik-fil-a and bought a chicken strip meal with a diet Coke in the drive-thru.

My parking spot was still empty when I returned to the campus with an hour to spare.  Windows down, sunroof open...aaahhhh.  Just me and my waffle fries and bright blue skies.