Playing Catch Up

I've been so busy the past week or so that I didn't have time to blog. Every night last week I had a meeting of some kind. Board meeting, Red Sox game (!), personnel meeting (we hired a new math teacher), Parent Appreciation dinner, Science Fair, etc. It was exhausting, although very productive, and often fun. The days were no less challenging. Anyone who teaches knows what the last couple weeks of school are like. Kids are restless, teachers are near the end of their rope. Add in a full moon (the "Flower" moon), and you have a recipe for disaster. Except it wasn't really a disaster. Just a huge test of patience.

The baby robins are thriving. They are covered with feathers now, so much that they blend right in with their nest and I can't get any good pictures of them as there is no contrast between them, the nest and the grid I have to shoot through. The goslings are at least twice the size they were the week before. They've joined up with two other geese families and are systematically working throught the yards in the neighborhood around the school. Every morning on my way to work, I find them in a different front yard, gobbling up whatever it is they are finding there. Always, at any given moment, two adults are standing guard along the sidewalk.

Tuesday night my sister and her family took me to the Red Sox game for my birthday. We were right behind home plate...a place I haven't sat for many years (back when seats were $10 instead of $50...). We had a great time watching the Sox win (although it wasn't as exciting as the night before when John Lester pitched a no hitter). I sat there looking around the park at all the different places I've been there. I think I've probably sat in every single section at least once, except for the newer seats on top of the Green Monster (left field) and in the luxury boxes above home plate (although I've been inside once, on a tour). I love Fenway Park! It holds a lot of good memories for me...

Now, I'm up in Maine at my parents' for a couple of days. They've lived here for 5 years, now, and have worked hard to make their yard a magnet for birds. This year, they have more birds than I've ever seen before: indigo buntings, bluebirds (They come for worms when my mom whistles!), Baltimore orioles, goldfinches, purple finches, robins, mourning doves, meadow larks, blue jays, ruby throated humming birds, several kinds of sparrows, tree swallows, and more...all letting us know through their various songs and continued presence how much they enjoy and appreciated this haven.

Photos: Baltimore Oriole outside my parents' sunroom; Canada goose and goslings feeding in the school neighborhood; Jonathan Papelbon strikes out the last batter to win the game; male bluebird eating mealworms after my mom has whistled for him.